In Astrakhan, the Court Put Three Jehovah's Witnesses Behind Bars and Placed the Wife of One of Them Under House Arrest From Prison

On June 11, 2020, Natalia Senchenko and Olga Ivanova, judges of the Kirovskiy district court of Astrakhan, decided to send three believers to the detention center: Sergey Klikunov, Rustam Diarov, and Yevgeniy Ivanov. All three have families. Judge Nadezhda Melikhova put under house arrest Yevgeny Ivanov’s wife, Olga.

June 9, 2020 in Astrakhan, about one hundred of law enforcement officers searched two dozen families of local Jehovah's Witnesses. That day, investigators detained for three days Sergey Klikunov, 45, Rustam Diarov, 46, Evgeniy Ivanov, 43, and his wife, Olga Ivanova, 37.

As of June 12, 2020, 34 people are languishing in Russian prisons for their faith in Jehovah. Another 142 people, after having been behind bars for several years to many months, have been changed to a milder measure, such as house arrest, a ban on certain actions, or a not-exit subscription. The longest person behind bars is Dennis Christensen from the City of Orel (3 years and 1 month). The longest sentence was passed on 61-year-old Gennady Shpakovsky from Pskov (6.5 years in prison).

The Astrakhan judges, justifying their decision on the strictest measure of restraint for peaceful believers, draw attention to the fact that they carried out "an encroachment directed against the foundations of the constitutional order.” In particular, Judge Natalia Senchenko notes in her ruling that "Diarov's involvement in the crime is confirmed ... by the testimony of a witness about the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, whose activities differ from the traditional principles of Christianity.”

Under what article are the Astrakhan believers charged? On June 8th , a criminal case was brought against them by a senior investigator for investigation of particularly important cases of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in Astrakhan region, N. P. Banko. Three men are charged under part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of extremist activity). Olga Ivanova (she's the judge's namesake) is charged with part 2 of article 282.2 (participation in extremist activities). The charges directly go back to the Supreme Court decision of 20 April 2017 on liquidation of all registered Jehovah's Witnesses organizations. Although religion itself was not banned, which is emphasized by the Russian government, law enforcement officials do not distinguish between the inherent right of everyone to freedom of religion and participation in the activities of an organization whose activities are prohibited by the court.

Lawyers and human rights activists both in Russia and abroad unanimously condemn the actions of the authorities against Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Federation.