In the Smolensk Region, Mariya Troshina and Nataliya Sorokina Received 6 Years of Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible

On April 22, 2021, the judge of the Sychevka District Court of the Smolensk Region, Arkadiy Likhachev, found Mariya Troshina and Nataliya Sorokina guilty of allegedly organizing the activities of an extremist organization. For their faith in Jehovah God, they were sentenced to 6 years of suspended imprisonment with a probation period of 3 years.

Despite the lack of victims in the case, the prosecution asked the court to sentence Mariya Troshina to 6 years and 8 months in prison, and Nataliya Sorokina to 6 years and 6 months.

The verdict has not entered into force. The believers insist on their complete innocence and will appeal.

During the court hearings, the women and their defender repeatedly stressed that the charges were based on an incorrect interpretation of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation that banned legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses on the territory of Russia.

“The operational officers and the investigator did not understand the essence of the decision of the Supreme Court. [...] The FSB of Russia ... opened a criminal case only because the two women did not change their religion after 2017,” said the defendants' lawyer.

Nataliya Sorokina and Mariya Troshina from the city of Sychevka, Smolensk Region, were detained on October 7, 2018 after officers of the FSB, CPE and SOBR raided the homes of peaceful believers in the Smolensk Region. The case against the two women was initiated on September 19, 2018. Initially, they were charged with participation in the activities of a banned organization (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In the summer of 2019, the charge was reclassified into organizing the activities of an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

It took the Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate for the Smolensk Region 1 year and 2 months to investigate the case. It was transferred to the Sychevka District Court on November 21, 2019; hearings began in December.

The believers are accused of organizing the activities of the “Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.” “I have never been a member of any banned organization,” Nataliya Sorokina noted at the trial. “I have no idea how the meetings of the ’Administrative Center’ were held. I have never attended such meetings and learned about them from the case file ... Nowhere in the case file is there evidence that I am an employee of the ‘Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.’ There is no factual evidence that someone appointed me, there is only interpretation and attribution of certain motives.”

Mariya Troshina, in turn, emphasized: “My beliefs are not the beliefs of any legal entity. These are the views of a believer based on the Bible, not blind assertions or blindly following someone.”

At the hearing, the judge had to read out the previously given testimonies of the FSB officers, since they did not remember them. In the materials of the case, the investigation erroneously named the women members of a certain “foreign religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.” At one of the sessions, the prosecutor argued that the believers, “realizing the social danger,” were hiding from the state, which the defendants denied.

The court heard audio recordings of divine services and religious conversations with the participation of Nataliya and Mariya. The believers' lawyer emphasized that the recordings revealed the counsel on how to apply the knowledge from the Bible: respect all people, including those in power, take care of the family, and imitate the example of Jesus Christ. The audio materials did not contain calls to change or overthrow the constitutional order, thoughts about the superiority of any group of people, and any mentions of the “Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.”

The women spent more than six months in prison. In the spring of 2019, they left the detention center and were under house arrest until the fall of the same year. After that, the court released them on their own recognizance. Natalia, who suffers from asthma, had exacerbated health problems while she was in jail.

In the Smolensk Region, a total of eight Jehovah's Witnesses face criminal prosecution on the basis of their religion.

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.