RUSSIA
REVOKES
CITIZENSHIP OF YET ANOTHER ADHERENT OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
In
Ulianovsk oblast,
the administration of penal colony No. 3 informed an adherent of
Jehovah's
Witnesses, Konstantin Bazhenov, about the termination of his
Russian
citizenship. This was reported by the press service of the
European Association
of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The
reason for the
cancellation of citizenship was the guilty verdict with respect
to Bazhenov: in
September 2019 he was sentenced to three and a half years in a
penal colony of
general regime on the basis of the article regarding arranging
the activity of
an extremist organization (part 1, article 282.2 of the CC).
Such a
basis for
rescinding citizenship is provided by part 2 of article 22 of
the federal law
"On citizenship of the Russian Federation." The law equates a
sentence that has taken legal effect in the case of a number of
articles of the
Criminal Code (including one based on article 282.2 of the CC)
with the witting
reporting of false information regarding the obligation to
observe the
constitution and legislation of Russia.
Bazhenov
received
citizenship 11 years ago, in 2009. Russia terminated his
citizenship on 20
April, but, according to his spouse, the believer himself was
informed about
this only on 15 May.
Konstantin
Bazhenov
is the second adherent of Jehovah's Witnesses who was deprived
of citizenship
because of the verdict in his case. The first believer to be
faced with this
form of persecution was Feliks Makhammadiev. That he was
deprived of
citizenship became known on 13 May. (tr. by PDS, posted 19 May
2020)
NATIVE
OF VELIKY
NOVGOROD STRIPPED OF RUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR FAITH IN JEHOVAH
Now a
second
convicted Jehovah's Witness, a native of Veliky Novgorod,
Konstantin Bazhenov,
has been deprived of Russian citizenship, the European
Association of Jehovah's
Witnesses informed Kasparov.ru on 19 May.
The
administration of
penal colony No. 3 of Dimitrovgrad informed Bazhenov, who was
convicted for his
religious beliefs, that his Russian citizenship has been
annulled.
Konstantin
was born
in Veliky Novgorod and back as a child he moved, along with his
parents, to the
territory of Ukraine. In 2001 he married a resident of Donetsk
oblast, and in
2009 the couple moved to Russia and gained citizenship.
In
September 2019,
Bazhenov received 3.5 years in a penal colony for group prayer
and singing with
fellow believers, which is a canon of their religion. He
underwent an
indictment in the very same criminal case as his five fellow
believers from
Saratov, including Feliks Makhammadiev, for whom Russian
authorities overturned
a decision to grant Russian citizenship several days before the
decision with
respect to Bazhenov.
According
to Yaroslav
Sivulsky, a representative of the European Association of
Jehovah's Witnesses,
the annulment of citizenship for Bazhenov and Makhammadiev is
evidence of the
unintelligibility of the system of Russian jurisprudence.
"The
authorities, formally following the law, apply the very same
measure both to
terrorists and to peaceful believers, who find themselves in
prison for their
convictions alone, whose meaning is love for God and people,"
Sivulsky
commented on the situation.
The
international
community considers the prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses to be
unjust and
illegal. Russian rights advocates have including Konstantin
Bazhenov and Feliks
Makhammadiev in the list of political prisoners and prisoners of
conscience.
(tr. by PDS, posted 19 May 2020)
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