Photo: Oryol Courthouse

Photo: Oryol Courthouse

Photo: Oryol Courthouse

Criminal Investigation and Trial

A Complaint Filed in Oryol Against a Court Order to Detain One of Jehovah's Witnesses

Oryol Region

On May 29, 2017, an appeal was filed with the Judicial Board for Criminal Cases of the Oryol Regional Court against the court's decision to choose a preventive measure in the form of detention against a local resident, a foreign citizen Dennis Christensen.

The believer's lawyer considers the decision illegal and asks for it to be canceled. The court was obliged to indicate why a milder measure could not be chosen, but this was not done. As the only justification for choosing the most severe measure of restraint, the court indicated the fact that Christensen is a Danish citizen (according to the court, he can hide from the investigating authorities). The court rejected other unfounded arguments of the investigator about the need to detain the accused.

In addition, the court made such a harsh decision only on the basis of his religion, despite the fact that he has no previous convictions, has a permanent place of residence and work, where he is characterized positively, and also despite the fact that his behavior is fundamentally different from the behavior of those who seek to incite enmity, hatred and humiliation of human dignity. This means that the court discriminated on the basis of nationality and attitude to religion.

Extremism, or incitement to hatred, is alien to Jehovah's Witnesses because they follow the philanthropic precepts of Jesus Christ. They deny all accusations of extremism as grossly wrong.

Case of Christensen in Oryol

Case History
Dennis Christensen is the first Jehovah’s Witness in modern Russia to be imprisoned only because of his faith. He was arrested in May 2017. The FSB accused the believer of organizing the activities of a banned organization on the basis of the testimony of a secret witness, theologian Oleg Kurdyumov from a local university, who kept covert audio and video recordings of conversations with Christensen about faith. There are no extremist statements or victims in the case. In 2019, the court sentenced Christensen to 6 years in prison. The believer was serving time in the Lgov colony. He repeatedly asked for the replacement of part of the unserved term with a fine. For the first time, the court granted the request, but the prosecutor’s office appealed this decision, and the prison administration threw the believer into a punishment cell on trumped-up charges. Christensen developed illnesses that prevented him from working in prison. On May 24, 2022, the believer was released after serving his sentence and was immediately deported to his homeland, Denmark.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Oryol Region
Locality:
Oryol
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, together with the others he conducted religious services, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation” (with reference to the court’s decision on the liquidation of the local organisation of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11707540001500164
Initiated:
May 23, 2017
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
UFSB of Russia in the Oryol region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-37/1
[i18n] Рассмотрено судом первой инстанции:
Железнодорожный районный суд г. Орла
Judge:
Алексей Николаевич Руднев
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Орловский областной суд
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Льговский райсуд Курской области
Case History
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