Case of Prokhorov in Kirsanov

The head of the Kirsanov Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee for the Tambov Region, Askar Bupegaliev, opens a criminal case against 56-year-old Nikolai Prokhorov.

The cases against Prokhorov and his fellow believer Kuzhelkov are combined into one proceeding.

During a business trip, Nikolay Prokhorov is detained and taken to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tambov, where he is interrogated. Kuzhelkov is asked, among other things, about how the meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses are held. According to the believer, the law enforcement officers threaten to arrange for him to be dismissed from work and taken into custody.

Then Prokhorov was taken to the Investigative Committee, where his mobile phone and laptop were seized from him in the presence of testifying witnesses and a lawyer. Nikolay is released on recognizance agreement and proper behavior.

The home of Nikolai Prokhorov's mother is being inspected.

The case against Nikolay Prokhorov and Anton Kuzhelkov is being submitted to the Kirsanovsky District Court of the Tambov Region.

Judge Nikolay Glistin refuses to return the criminal case to the prosecutor, although, in the opinion of the defense, inadmissible evidence of the prosecution appears in the case, for example, the conclusion of the expert Yulia Aseeva: she does not have a specialized education; answering the questions posed by the investigator, she went beyond her competence; in addition, Aseyeva is the founder of one of the local Islamic religious organizations.

The first open court hearing in the criminal case is taking place. Nikolai Prokhorov expresses his attitude to the accusation brought by the prosecutor. The believer does not admit guilt, drawing the court's attention to the right to profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Questioning of prosecution witnesses, one of whom refuses to testify. The prosecutor requested that his testimony be made public, but the court refused, supporting the objection of the defense.

Another witness, Nikolai Prokhorov's boss, gives him a positive characteristic. He notes that during the ten years of joint work he often and willingly talked with Nikolai about the Bible on his own initiative and that he never agitated him.

The court interrogates FSB officer Tsyplakov. According to him, investigative measures against Prokhorov were carried out because he has been a Jehovah's Witness for a long time. Another reason is that in the videos provided by an undercover FSB informant, Nikolai Prokhorov performs songs of Jehovah's Witnesses. At the same time, he notes that during the meetings for worship "no one was hurt ... There was nothing life-threatening there."

Witnesses for the prosecution are being questioned at the hearing, including Shcherbakov, a clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church, who was involved in the case as an expert. He retells the history of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and explains that the form of this name is in the Synodal translation of the Bible.

Nikolay Prokhorov is undergoing inpatient treatment in the radiotherapy department. The Kirsanov District Court suspends the proceedings in the criminal case until the defendant recovers.

The court is interrogating religious scholar, Doctor of Philosophy, State Counselor of the Russian Federation Sergey Ivanenko, who explains that the individual spiritual activity of Jehovah's Witnesses is carried out according to the model left by Christians of the first century. The meeting, according to Ivanenko, is a religious group, not a legal entity (LRO).

A new judge, Elena Shubakina, begins to consider the case.

The prosecution is interrogating religious scholar, associate professor of the Department of History and Philosophy of Tambov State University Yana Chernova. She talks about Jehovah's Witnesses and draws the court's attention to the fact that their beliefs are based on the Bible.

The defense draws the court's attention to the fact that none of the documents submitted by the prosecution contains evidence of the unlawful activities of the believers. These materials either date from before 2017 or are not dated at all, and it is therefore impossible to establish how they relate to the case. All of them only confirm that the defendants belong to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which they do not hide anyway.

The defense emphasizes that the gathering of believers in Kirsanov does not belong to the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, liquidated by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2017. Consequently, the activities of such religious groups remain legal.

The lawyer comments on the conclusions of the comprehensive examination and points out that the experts made a false conclusion about the alleged ban on the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. Then he refutes the allegation that Prokhorov and Kuzhelkov distributed banned literature: they are not accused of this, so such a conclusion of experts looks like an attempt to complicate the situation of the defendants.

In addition, the lawyer emphasizes that neither the expert nor the expert organization notified the defense about the start of the examination. Thus, the court order was violated, which gave the defendants the right to be present during the examination and give their explanations.

Yulia Aseeva's religious study was re-announced in court. The defense again draws attention to the fact that at the time of the examination, Aseyeva did not have the appropriate education.

At the request of the lawyer, the testimony of religious scholar Sergey Ivanenko, which he gave in 2022, is read out. Commenting on Aseeva's study, Ivanenko noted that at the time of the examination she worked as a neurologist, was the founder of the LRO "Heritage of Islam", but did not have scientific works in the field of religious studies. In addition, although Aseyeva described the methodology for conducting the examination, she did not apply it in her conclusions.

Ivanenko drew attention to the fact that there are no "materials in the case where the defendants would talk about their hostility to other religions, that it is necessary to somehow suppress these religions, to infringe on the rights of their followers." Ivanenko also explained that holding meetings for worship by Jehovah's Witnesses and spreading their religious views is "a canonical activity aimed at studying the Bible and biblical literature."

The court suspends proceedings in the case against Nikolay Prokhorov until he recovers due to cancer.

The Kirsanovskiy District Court finds Anton Kuzhelkov, with whom Prokhorov had previously been involved in the same case, guilty of extremism and sentences him to 6.5 years suspended.

The court proceedings in the case of Nikolay Prokhorov are resumed and separated into a separate proceeding from the case of Anton Kuzhelkov.

It becomes known that the trial in the case of 61-year-old Nikolai Prokhorov will now be conducted by Judge Yuri Makashov, since Elena Shubakina, who sentenced Kuzhelkov, recused herself.

Nikolai Prokhorov refuses a lawyer and declares: "I am on trial for my faith. No one knows my beliefs better than me." The judge considers the participation of a lawyer mandatory, since Prokhorov is a disabled person of group I.