TOMSK JEHOVAH'S WITNESS GIVEN SIX YEARS IN
PENAL COLONY A court sentenced Tomsk Jehovah's Witness
Sergei Klimov to six
years in a penal colony. He was called the "arranger of the
activity of an
extremist organization," based on the testimony of a secret
witness. The October district court of Tomsk found
Sergei Klimov guilty
on the basis of part 1 of article 282 (arranging the
activity of a religious
association that has been liquidated by a court because of
conducting extremist
activity). Judge Dmitry Borisov sentenced him to six years
in a penal colony of
general regime, Klimov's lawyer, Artur Leontiev, told
Taiga.info. In 2017 the Russian Supreme Court banned the
Administrative
Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and its regional
affiliates, ruling
them to be extremist. The state's prosecution asked for
seven years in a penal
colony. The sentence will be appealed, the lawyer
emphasized. Klimov "undermined the foundations of the
constitutional
structure and the security of the state, predicting the
onset of socially
dangerous consequences in the form of violation of the
rights, liberties, and
legal interests of man and citizen, as the result of
inciting religious strife,
the promotion of exceptionality, and the superiority of a
person on the basis
of his religious affiliation and relationship to religion,"
the court's
decision says (Taiga.info has a copy). The court also forbade the defendant to teach
and to be engaged
in "activity connected with the posting of appeals and other
materials" on the internet, for five years after serving his
incarceration. Klimov
was arrested
in June 2018 in Tomsk. According to the account of the
investigation, he
"was the actual director" of the local organization of
"Northern
Tomsk," one of the subdivisions of the Administrative Center
of Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia" that was banned by the Supreme Court.
Allegedly he
gathered believers in the home of one of the members of the
congregation and
conducted services there. The charges were built on the
testimony of a secret
witness who refused in court to answer the majority of the
defense's questions. Klimov's
attorney
insists that his client was not one of the founders of the
legal entity of
Jehovah's Witnesses and his meetings with believers were of
a private nature. The
European Court of
Human Rights accepted Klimov's appeal in the case. His wife,
Iulia, was among
the wives of detained Jehovah's Witnesses who signed an
appeal to the Council
on Human Rights under the Russian president. The CHR, in its
turn, appealed to
the Office of the Prosecutor General. Taiga.info
has
described in detail the history of the prosecution of Sergei
Klimov and other
Jehovah's Witnesses in Siberia. (tr. by PDS, posted 5
November 2019)
SIX
YEARS OF PRISON
FOR SERGEI KLIMOV
Court in
Tomsk issued
another guilty verdict for faith in Jehovah'
Jehovah's
Witnesses
in Russia, 5 November 2019
On 5
November 2019,
Judge Dmitry Borisov of the October district court of Tomsk
announced the
verdict for a local resident, Sergei Klimov, who was convicted
of professing an
"incorrect" religion: six years imprisonment in a correctional
labor
colony of general regime.
The
judge concluded
that the guilt of the 49-year-old believer for serious crimes
against the
constitutional structure of Russia was fully proven, and all
arguments of the
defense were adjudged to be not grounded in the law. The only
grounds for such
a severe sentence are the religious convictions of the
defendant, which he did
not renounce after the decision of the Supreme Court of 20 April
2017.
After
serving the
prison term, the believer will be given additional punishments:
prohibition to
engage in educational activity in all types of educational
institutions and to
post materials on the internet and other social networks for a
period of five
years, and also another year of restrictions of liberty (he is
prohibited to
attend cultural events including festivals, religious holidays,
and ceremonies
and prohibited to leave the boundaries of Tomsk and to change
his place of
residence without the permission of supervisory agencies).
Sergei
Klimov becomes
the eighth Jehovah's Witness in modern Russia to be sentenced to
real time in
prison for his faith. Before this, similar sentences were
received by six believers
from Saratov and the Danish citizen Dennis Christensen.
Sergei
Klimov's
defense lawyer thinks the sentence based on confessional
affiliation is illegal
and he plans to appeal it. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 November 2019)
SENTENCE OF LEADER OF JEHOVISTS IN TOMSK
CONSISTENT WITH CURRENT
LAW—PESKOV
Interfax-Religiia,
5 November 2019
The Kremlin declared that the judicial sentence
regarding the
leader of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tomsk is in accord with current
legislation in
the Russian Federation, but it does not intend to comment on the
verdict
itself.
"This is still in accord with current legislation
and no
sorts of corrections in the legislation have yet been
introduced. Consequently,
the judicial decision was made on the basis of existing law,"
the Russian
president's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said in response to
a request for
comment on the judicial verdict by which the leader of Jehovists
in Tomsk was
sentenced to six years incarceration.
"We cannot comment on it (the sentence) and we
will not. At
the present time there are no elements in the approach to
existing
legislation," Peskov added. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 November 2019)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.