On the photo: Vladimir and Tatiana Alushkin

On the photo: Vladimir and Tatiana Alushkin

On the photo: Vladimir and Tatiana Alushkin

Unjust Verdicts

Vladimir Alushkin May Be Placed Under Arrest for the Third Time. Cassation Court Will Review the Appeal Decision to Overturn the Sentence

Penza Region,   Saratov Region

On July 9, 2020, the First Cassation Court of the Saratov Jurisdiction will be holding a hearing to review a complaint from the Prosecutor's Office. The complaint objects to the Appeals Court's overturned conviction of Vladimir Alushkin, a worshiper from the city of Penza. Depending on the Cassation Court's decision, Alushkin may be placed into custody once again.

In December, 2019 the court of first instance in Penza has sentenced Alushkin to six years of colony for faith. In March 2020, the regional court overturned this verdict and sent the case for a new trial to the same court with a new composition, while the believer was released from custody on a subscription not to leave the city. The prosecution disagreed with this and filed a cassation appeal. On July 9, 2020, it will be the first time that the Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction will review the sentence in the case against Jehovah's Witnesses. Previously, the Court of Cassation had only reviewed interim judgments, such as defendants' complaints about the precautionary measure or the court's refusal to grant a leniency application.

Update. On July 9, 2020, the First Court of Cassation returned the case of Alushkin and 5 of his fellow believers for a new appeal to the Penza Regional Court. The measure of restraint chosen by the believers in the form of a written undertaking not to leave the place remained unchanged. The case was heard by the judges of the Court of Cassation Elena Batulina (rapporteur), Andrey Savelyev and Valentina Komissarova.

Alushkin has already been imprisoned twice for his faith. The first time he was sent to the pre-trial detention center in 2018, while his case was under investigation. He spent six months there and another 11 months under house arrest. When the Leninskiy District Court of Penza sentenced him to six years in prison for his faith, he was taken into custody in the courtroom and sent to another pre-trial detention facility for 291 days. He stayed there until the Penza regional court cancelled the wrongful conviction and sent the case for a new trial. Accordingly, if the cassation court reverses the decision of the Penza Regional Court, the believer will be taken into custody for the third time.

The decision of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, issued in October 2019, demonstrates the illegality of the verdict and sentence of six years in prison. This body found Vladimir Alushkin's arrest unlawful. The Working Group described what was happening with Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia as "systemic and institutionalized persecution" (para. 65).

Courts of cassation are an innovation in Russian legal proceedings. They are the higher instance for appeal courts and review court decisions that have come into force on cassation appeals and on newly discovered circumstances. The general courts of cassation began their work on 1 October 2019. A total of 9 general courts of cassation have been established in Saratov, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar, Pyatigorsk, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo and Vladivostok.

Case of Alushkin and Others in Penza

Case History
In July 2018, searches were carried out in Penza and criminal cases were initiated against 6 local Jehovah’s Witnesses. It turned out that since the fall of 2017, the believers had been under covert surveillance. Vladimir Alushkin spent six months in a pre-trial detention center. The UN Working Group officially recognized his arrest as arbitrary. In the summer of 2019, the case was submitted to the Leninsky District Court of Penza. During the hearings, it turned out that the protocols of the witnesses’ interrogations were partially falsified by the investigation, and one of the witnesses told the court that she had testified under pressure. In December 2019, Judge Roman Tanchenko sentenced Vladimir Alushkin to 6 years in prison, and Tatyana Alushkina, Galia Olkhova, Vladimir Kulyasov, Andrey Magliv and Denis Timoshin to 2 years suspended. In September 2020, the Penza Regional Court commuted the sentence of Vladimir Alushkin, replacing 6 years in prison with 4 years probation. For the rest, the court upheld the sentence - 2 years suspended. On December 9, 2021, the First Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction upheld the verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Penza Region
Locality:
Penza
Suspected of:
according to the investigation he participated in religious services, which is interpreted as participating in 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:
11802560015000075
Initiated:
July 11, 2018
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Bessonovskiy Inter-district Investigative Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Penza Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-110/2020 (1-167/2019)
Court:
Ленинский районный суд г. Пензы
Case History
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