Criminal proceedings against elders of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses continue in Sergiev Posad

On May 3 and 4, 2017, the Sergiev Posad City Court is scheduled to continue hearing the criminal case against Vyacheslav Stepanov and Andrey Sivak from the local Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The believers are accused of "extremist activities." The recordings of their Bible-based peaceful sermons were sent for research to an "expert" who was not qualified but known for his ability to look for "signs of extremism" in Jehovah's Witnesses publications. In court, the believers asked to appoint a new examination to an authoritative expert institution. The court sent the records to the Federal Budgetary Institution "Russian Federal Center for Forensic Examination under the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation".

In this case, there are no victims, no offenses have been committed, the instigators of which would be these believers. They became victims of criminal prosecution only because of their religion.