RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Jehovah's Witness sentenced in Far East

SIX YEARS CONDITIONALLY. SENTENCE ISSUED TO BELIEVER GRIGORY BUBNOV IN PRIMORIE TERRITORY

Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 21 January 2020

 

On 21 January 2020, Judge Natalia Dereviagina of the Nadezhdin district court found Grigory Bubnov guilty of arranging the activity of an extremist organization (part 1, article 282.2 CC RF). He was given a suspended penalty in the form of six years imprisonment.

 

Grigory Bubnov's sentence—on the basis of part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the RF—turned out to be unprecedentedly "mild." Nine other Jehovah's Witnesses convicted under this article are incarcerated. They are Dennis Christensen (Orel oblast), Sergei Klimov (Tomsk oblast), Konstantin Bazhenov, Aleksei Budenchuk, Gennady German, Roman Gridasov, Feliks Makhammadiev, Aleksei Miretsky (Saratov oblast), and Vladimir Alushkin (Penza oblast).

 

Among other things, the court deprived Grigory Bubnov of his right to be engaged in activity associated with participating in public organizations for a period of 5 years and also imposed on him restricted liberty for a period of one year plus five years probation. He is forbidden to visit places where large and other events are conducted. The court ordered that two Bibles confiscated from believers and entered into materials of the case be destroyed when the sentence takes effect.

 

Grigory Bubnov is one of 23 Jehovah's Witnesses in Primorie territory who are being subjected to criminal prosecution for their faith. More than half of them have already been subjected to a measure of restriction in the form of detention in custody. For example, Dmitry Barmakin spent 447 days in a SIZO [pretrial detention cell], and Valentin Osadchuk spent 275 days in a SIZO. They all are living in expectation of further repressions for their faith. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 January 2020)

 

RESIDENT OF PRIMORIE VILLAGE RECEIVES SUSPENDED SENTENCE IN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES' CASE

Meduza, 21 January 2020

 

A court in Primorie territory sentenced a 54-year-old resident of the village of Razdolnoe to a suspended prison term on a charge of creation of a local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. This was reported by the S.K.R. [Investigative Committee of Russia].

 

"The court assigned him a penalty in the form of six years incarceration with deprivation of the right to engage in activity connected with participation in a public organization for a period of five yeas and with restricted liberty for a period of one year; a penalty in the form of deprivation of liberty for five years is considered to be suspended," the release from the agency said.

 

As the Russian Service of the BBC reported, the episode is about Grigory Bubnov. By training he is an engineer and "in the village he worked as a janitor and 'received thanks from the populace,'" the publication reports, citing the religious organization.

 

According to the account of the Investigative Committee, Bubnov "arranged large meetings, organized presentations, distributed literature of extremist contents, and conducted preaching activity."

 

The Jehovists themselves write that Bubnov received six year conditionally. As Mediazona reported, the prosecutor's office asked for seven years in a prison colony.

 

In 2017 the Supreme Court ruled the Jehovah's Witnesses to be an extremist organization and forbade their activity in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin called persecution of believers "nonsense," although adherents of the organization continue to receive real time sentences, among other things. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 January 2020)

 

PRIMORIE RESIDENT RECEIVES SIX YEARS PROBATION FOR ORGANIZING CELL OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

TASS, 21 January 2020

 

The Nadezhdin district court in Primorie territory sentenced a 54-year-old resident of the region to a suspended sentence for organizing the work of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a religious association that is prohibited in Russia, the website of the Investigative Committee of Russia [S.K.R.] reports on Tuesday.

 

"Evidence collected by investigative agencies of the S.K.R. for Primorie territory was ruled by the court to be sufficient for issuing a guilty verdict to a 54-year-old man. He was found to be guilty of committing the crime specified in part 1 of article 282.2 of the CC RF ('Arranging the activity of a religious association with respect to which a court has issued a decision, that has taken effect, concerning its liquidation because of the conduct of extremist activity')," the report says.

 

The court assigned to the man a punishment in the form of six years of incarceration, suspended. In addition, the court deprived him of the right to engage in activity in public organizations for five years.

 

According to the investigation's account, the defendant organized the activity of a local cell of Jehovah's Witnesses in the village of Razdolnoe of the Nadezhdin district of the territory. He convened large meetings, arranged presentations, distributed literature of extremist contents, and conducted preaching activity. At the meetings, participants performed songs of special doctrine and viewed videos. There they discussed conspiratorial measures and drawing new members into the activity of the organization. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 January 2020)


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