APPEALS COURT IN KHABAROVSK SUBSTITUTES LARGE
FINE FOR 26 MONTHS
COMPULSORY LABOR FOR BELIEVER
Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia, 5 November 2019
On 5 November 2019, the Khabarovsk territorial
court mitigated
the sentence of Valery Moskalenko, substituting a fine of 500
thousand rubles
for compulsory labor for reading excerpts from Christ's Sermon
on the Mount.
Taking into account the 396 days in the SIZO, the court released
him from
payment of this fine. The prosecution had asked for three years
in a penal
colony for him.
The sentence has taken legal effect. The court
ruled to return
to Moskalenko everything that has been seized from him during a
search,
including computer equipment, notebooks with personal notes, and
printed
publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, with the exception of one
book that is
included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
Previously, on 2 September 2019 the court of the
first instance
sentenced him to two years and two months compulsory labor and
also to
restriction of liberty for a period of six months in the form of
prohibition of
leaving Khabarovsk and the requirement of reporting for monthly
inspection.
The text of the appellate determination in the
form of a signed
document is still unavailable.
Moskalenko thinks that criminal prosecution for
faith in God is
unacceptable. On 18 December 2018, his appeal "Moskalenko v.
Russia"
regarding his illegal detention in custody was filed in the
European Court of
Human Rights. Now Moskalenko intends to file an appeal in the
ECHR against the
guilty verdict. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 November 2019)
Related articles:
Jehovah's Witness' trial wraps up in
Far East
August 30, 2019
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