In the photo: Valeria and Sergey Rayman

In the photo: Valeria and Sergey Rayman

In the photo: Valeria and Sergey Rayman

Unjust Verdicts

In Kostroma, the Court Sentenced a Family of Jehovah's Witnesses to the Largest Probation Period During Religious Persecution in Russia

Kostroma Region

On October 9, 2020, Dmitry Balayev, judge of the Sverdlovsk District Court of Kostroma, sentenced Jehovah's Witnesses Sergey and Valeriya Rayman to 8 and 7 years of probation, respectively. This is more than the state prosecutor asked. The believers' guilt is a joint home Bible discussion. The verdict has not entered into force.

The court found the believing spouses guilty both in organization and participation in activity of extremist organization (part 1 and 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). State prosecution asked the court to sentence them to 7 years conditionally each. Believers continue to insist on their complete innocence.

"The very fact that they were found guilty under 2 mutually exclusive articles at once already testifies to complete misunderstanding of the matter among law enforcers, - said Yaroslav Sivulskiy from the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, - In reality Sergey and Valeriya simply enjoyed their constitutional right to freedom of religion, no extremist activity is being involved".

Sergey and Valeria Rayman during the sentencing in court. Kostroma. 9 October 2020
Sergey and Valeria Rayman during the sentencing in court. Kostroma. 9 October 2020

"For some reason, any attempt to exercise their religious beliefs, which no court has banned, is a crime from the perspective of the investigation. No one was harmed by my actions, and the indictment clearly states: 'No victims’. They could not have been, because the main motive of all my actions is love for people. I am not ashamed of my beliefs that helped me to become a worthy man," Sergei Rayman said in his last word.

Valeriya Rayman, addressing to court with last word, has told: "The persecution by the authorities has had an impact on our life, on our physical and emotional health. And now, for over two years, we have been living under constant stress and anxiety. And all this is due to the unfair accusation of extremism. I have not committed any crime and my conscience is clean before everyone."

Case of the Raymans in Kostroma

Case History
In July 2018, the life of young spouses Sergey and Valeria Rayman was divided into “before” and “after”. They were accused of extremism under two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for participating in worship services. The Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Kostroma Region investigated the case for 1.5 years. During this time, the couple survived imprisonment in solitary confinement, a ban on correspondence and reading the Bible, house arrest, and a restriction on communication even with each other. In August 2019, the court began considering their case, but 1.5 months later returned it to the prosecutor for the unfounded accusation. After re-examining the case, the court sentenced Sergey and Valeriya to 8 and 7 years of probation, respectively. In February 2021, the regional court reduced the terms to 3 and 2 years, but the cassation returned the case to the appeal stage. Based on the results of the reconsideration in the regional court, Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was excluded from the verdict and the spouses were given 7 and 6.5 years suspended with a probationary period of 2 years. In August 2022, the cassation court finally approved this decision.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Kostroma Region
Locality:
Kostroma
Suspected of:
according to the investigation they participated in religious services, which is interpreted as organising and participating in the activities 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:
11802340011000073
Initiated:
July 24, 2018
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department for the Tsentralniy District of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Kostroma Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-322/2019
Court:
Свердловский районный суд г. Костромы
Judge:
Дмитрий Балаев
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Костромской областной суд
Case History
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