Unjust Verdicts

Conviction of 16 believers from Taganrog entered into force

Rostov Region

On the evening of March 17, 2016, the Rostov Regional Court essentially upheld the conviction of 16 Taganrog Jehovah's Witnesses. All sixteen believers were sentenced to heavy fines, and four were sentenced to more than 5 years of suspended imprisonment.

The defendants, as well as their fellow believers across Russia, are shocked by the blatantly unjust verdict. The court considered the usual peaceful religious activities of Taganrog residents to be a crime. The reason is that in 2009 the court liquidated a legal entity - the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses "Taganrog" (the decision was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights). The lawyers drew the court's attention to Russian legislation, according to which the liquidation of a legal entity does not deprive individual believers of the right to freedom of religion.

"During the appeal hearing, it became clear that judges Shelekhov, Malysheva and Kuznetsov were not ready to defend believers from a fictitious accusation," says lawyer Anton Omelchenko.- When we reviewed the meager arguments of the prosecution, I asked the collegium, if the verdict was guilty, to honestly reflect in it that believers were sentenced only for reading aloud a passage from a psalm, or from the Gospel of John. or from the Acts of the Apostles."

"This is the first time in modern Russia that people have been criminally punished just for their faith," said Yaroslav Sivulsky of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, "The decision of the Rostov Regional Court discredits Russian justice, returning Russian reality to the sad times of religious repression."

"Our dear fellow believers, men and women, young and old, peaceful and law-abiding people, were considered extremists, dangerous criminals. You can't call it anything other than a perversion of justice," says Vasily Kalin of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. As God-fearing Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses do not pose any threat to society. The forces of Russian law enforcement, prosecutors and judges deserve much better use."

The believers intend to seek justice in this case.

The Case of Skvortsov and Others in Taganrog

Case History
Aleksandr Skvortsov is one of those convicted in the high-profile “Case of 16”. Shortly after the believer had served his sentence in full, the security forces searched his house. Six months later, in December 2021, searches were carried out at the homes of 30 residents of Taganrog. Aleksandr was taken for interrogation and detained. In March 2022, Valeriy Tibiy also became a defendant in the criminal case. He was sent to jail despite being seriously ill. The third defendant in the case, Vladimir Moiseyenko, ended up in pre-trial detention in July of the same year. Investigators accused all three of organizing the activity of an extremist organization. The case went to court in November 2022. During the hearings, it turned out that the FSB had been monitoring them since 2016, and an undercover agent recorded his conversations about the Bible with the believers. In June 2023, Skvortsov and Moiseyenko were sentenced to 7 and 6 years in a penal colony, respectively, and Tibiy was given a 6-year suspended sentence. The court of appeal, and later the court of cassation, upheld this decision.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Rostov Region
Locality:
Taganrog
Suspected of:
"organized the activities of the religious organization of the LRO of Jehovah's Witnesses "Taganrog", recognized as extremist and liquidated" back in 2009.
Court case number:
12102600017000087
Initiated:
December 7, 2021
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate for the city of Taganrog of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Rostov Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-43/2023 (1-829/2022)
Court of First Instance:
Таганрогский городской суд Ростовской области
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Георгий Серебряников
Case History