Six and More Years in Prison Requested for Believers Markin and Trofimov. Witnesses in Penza to Hear Verdict on January 24

On January 15, 2020, the Polyarny District Court of the Murmansk Region held a hearing in the case against local believers accused of extremist activities. A sentence of 6 years in prison was requested for Roman Markin, and 6 years and 5 months in prison for Viktor Trofimov.

In turn, in the last word, the believers asked the court to fully acquit them.

The local FSB focused its efforts on law-abiding Jehovah's Witnesses as early as November 2017. Hidden video cameras were installed in their apartments. Six months later, on April 18, 2018, searches were conducted in the homes of local residents in the city of Polyarny. 16 citizens, including minors, were taken for interrogation to the investigative department. They were asked questions about the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses. The interrogations continued until 7 a.m. the next day.

44-year-old Roman Markin and 61-year-old Viktor Trofimov were sent to a pre-trial detention center for six months on suspicion of "organizing the activities of an extremist organization" (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Later, they spent another 4 months under house arrest.

On May 24, 2019, Roman Markin and Viktor Trofimov were served with an indictment signed by the prosecutor's office of the Kola district of the Murmansk region. After 3 days, the case was received by the Polyarny District Court and was transferred to Judge Victoria Loginova for consideration. In total, more than 20 hearings in the case took place.

The announcement of the verdict is scheduled for January 24, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. at 2 Sivko St., Polyarny.