Photo: Evgeny Spirin with his wife before the verdict was announced

Photo: Evgeny Spirin with his wife before the verdict was announced

Photo: Evgeny Spirin with his wife before the verdict was announced

Unjust Verdicts

Yevgeniy Spirin of Furmanov is sentenced to a heavy fine for meeting peacefully with fellow believers.

Ivanovo Region

On July 28, 2020, the Furmanov City Court sentenced 34-year-old Yevgeniy Spirin a fine of 700,000 rubles, ruling that conversations with fellow-worshippers about God constitute extremism. Due to the time already spent in pre-trial and under house arrest, the amount to be paid is 500,000 rubles. The prosecutor has asked that he be sentenced to imprisonment for 7 years.

Although Yevgeniy does not agree with the verdict of conviction, he himself, his friends and relatives are happy that the punishment is not associated with imprisonment.

Update. On August 11, 2020, it became known that the prosecutor’s office had appealed this verdict to a higher court. This means that the believer still faces imprisonment.

“If Jehovah’s Witnesses stop meeting together, how are they supposed to enjoy their Constitutional right to “profess their beliefs alone or jointly with others?”— asked Yevgeniy Spirin rhetorically, referring to Article 28 of the Russian Federation Constitution during his closing statement to the court.

Spirin pointed out that the Russian Federation Supreme Court did not ban the joint profession of the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He also stressed that his faith poses no threat to the government or society because “the Bible teaches us to do good deeds and never to resort to violence.” According to Yevgeniy, the fact that he refused to take up arms and instead performed non-military alternative service for a longer period proves that he holds to this peaceable civil position.

“During this court hearing the question has constantly been asked “Have you heard from Spirin statements calling for violent change to fundamental Constitutional order and to the violation of the integrity of the Russian Federation?” Everyone who was asked this by the court confirmed that they had never heard any [such statements].”

Yevgeniy Spirin informed the court that his arrest and the subsequent court hearings have had a serious detrimental effect on the health of members of his family and requested that the court acquit him.

Judge Yuriy Gnedin ignored these arguments and sentenced the Witness to a punishment of a fine of 700,000 rubles. Given the fact that Yevgeniy has already spent 160 days in pre-trial detention and 167 days under house arrest, the total amount of the fine to be paid is 500,000 rubles.

Yevgeniy Spirin was detained on January 27, 2019 after his apartment had been searched. On the following day the court sent him to a pre-trial detention facility, in which he spent almost 6 months. He spent about the same amount of time under house arrest before being freed in December 2019 without any further restrictions being imposed.

Case of Spirin in Furmanov

Case History
After a series of searches in January 2019 in the city of Furmanov, local resident Yevgeny Spirin was interrogated and sent to a pre-trial detention center for 5 months. The FSB in the Ivanovo region accused him of resuming the activities of a banned organization, although Spirin did not harm anyone, but simply professed his faith. During the court hearings, numerous fabrications of “evidence” of Spirin’s guilt were revealed. Thus, an expert handwriting expert revealed a falsification of the search protocol. A neighbor of the Spirins told the court that she did not give a negative characterization to Yevgeniy, who appears in the case. And the prosecution witness turned out to be an embedded retired law enforcement officer. Nevertheless, in 2020, the court sentenced him to a fine of 700,000 rubles, although, taking into account the time spent by Spirin in custody, the amount payable is 500,000 rubles. The verdict has entered into force.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Ivanovo Region
Locality:
Furmanov
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, together with others he conducted religious services, which is interpreted as organising the activity of an extremist organisation (with reference to the decision of the Russian Supreme Court on the liquidation of all 396 registered organisations of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11907240001000003
Initiated:
January 21, 2019
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the Directorate of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia for the Ivanovo Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court:
Фурмановский городской суд Ивановской области
Case History
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