The Case of Fedorov in Asha

At 6 o'clock in the morning, Vadim Baltachev, a senior investigator of the investigative department for the city of Asha of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee for the Chelyabinsk Region, comes to the house of 28-year-old Andrey Fedorov with a search, accompanied by FSB operatives. The security forces seize an external hard drive and a computer system unit, mobile phones, a flash card, personal records and a bank card.

The search lasts about 2 hours.

At the same time, the security forces searched the neighboring house where Andrey's father, 53-year-old Vadim Fedorov, lives, who is at work. When a believer returns with his wife from a neighboring city, he is informed that in his absence a search was carried out and a Bible, a computer, a Bible game and 2 walkie-talkies were seized.

Investigator for particularly important cases of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk region Alexander Chepenko initiates a criminal case against Vadim Fedorov. The decision to initiate the UD states that the believer "was the organizer of a meeting in the hierarchy of the Religious Organization 'Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia,' and also organized the distribution of extremist materials." This is how the investigation interprets the holding of liturgical meetings of believers that are not prohibited by law.

The case is assigned a 12102750030000016 number.

Judge of the Traktorozavodsky District Court of Chelyabinsk Olesya Beskosova grants the petition of investigator Chepenko to conduct a search in the house of Vadim Fedorov.

At about 3 p.m., a task force led by investigator Chepenko arrives at Vadim Fedorov's house to conduct a second search.

Vadim is at work, so he returns home at the end of the investigation. The spouses are provided with a court order for a search and a search report.

The search takes place in a calm atmosphere. A laptop, memory cards and personal records are seized from the Fedorov family. Then Vadim Fedorov is taken to the local department of the Investigative Committee, where he is informed about the criminal case initiated against him. The believer is released on his own recognizance.

Vadim Fedorov's case is submitted to the Ashinsky City Court of the Chelyabinsk Region.

The hearings in the case of Vadim Fedorov begin. The prosecutor reads the charge from the indictment. In response to the judge's question whether the defendant admits his guilt, Vadim answers in the negative and asks to read out his attitude to the charges. But the judge says that he will be able to do this only at the defense stage.

The judge declares the hearings open, allows everyone to attend the hearings, as well as record what is happening in the hall on a dictaphone.

The prosecutor shall file a motion for recusal of the judge. The judge grants the request. The case will be heard by a new judge on December 27.

Two prosecution witnesses arrive, but they are not questioned.

The case begins to be considered by judge Rustamshin Alexei Akhnyafovich.

The prosecutor announces the charge, the defendant expresses his attitude towards him. Then the questioning of prosecution witnesses begins.

The first witness, a former operative, cannot say anything on the merits of the case, since he did not personally cross paths with Vadim Fedorov. The second prosecution witness, an active operational officer, also finds it difficult to testify in the case, since he last saw the defendant five years ago. Another witness knows Fedorov in absentia - he heard about him from his children, and also once saw him in glimpses. He confirms that he never heard the defendant call for divorce or undermining the constitutional order. The fourth witness confirms that the voice on the audio recordings provided to the investigation belongs to the defendant.

At the next hearing, it is planned to interrogate 8 witnesses.

Three prosecution witnesses are being questioned. The defense draws attention to the fact that the testimony of two of them does not relate to the merits of the case.

Interrogation of a prosecution witness who attended worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1993 to 2017. She states that "giving and preaching is a common voluntary practice."

The defendant testifies to the court on the basis of his written notes.

The lawyer files a motion to exclude from the case many of the evidence of Fedorov's accusation, which, in her opinion, was collected with violations: the examination was done incorrectly, and the disks on which it was prepared do not appear in the material evidence. She also notes that police officers cannot be witnesses in the case, as they are interested persons.

The judge appeals to the prosecutor so that by the next meeting he either excluded all evidence with violations from the case, or "put them in order."

The debate of the parties begins. The state prosecutor asks for a sentence of 6.5 years in a general regime colony. During his speech, the prosecutor says that if Fedorov met with fellow believers, it means that he organized meetings and thus allegedly continued the activities of the banned organization.

Then the appointed lawyer speaks, who argues in favor of the innocence of the believer, emphasizing the groundlessness of the accusation.

Vadim Fedorov: "I am not being judged because I have done something bad, but because I am a Christian and glorify Jehovah God."