The Appeal in Birobidzhan Toughened the Sentence Against Svetlana Monis: She Was Sentenced to 2.5 Years of Suspended Imprisonment

On May 12, 2021, the court of the Jewish Autonomous Region increased the sentence of Svetlana Monis, who was previously found guilty of extremism because of her belief in the Jehovah God. She was sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment conditionally with a probation period of 2 years.

The believer was also sentenced to 1 year of restriction of freedom. She is not allowed to change her place of residence, must report to the Federal Penitentiary Service on a monthly basis and not to leave the boundaries established by the Service.

The verdict entered into force. The believer still insists on her innocence. She has the right to appeal against the verdict in cassation, as well as in international instances.

On February 15, 2021 Vladimir Mikhalev, Judge of the Birobidzhan District Court of the EAO, found the believer guilty of participating in the activities of a banned organization and sentenced her to a fine of 10 thousand rubles. Despite the mildness of the first instance court verdict, Svetlana Monis appealed it.

The prosecution of 44-year-old Svetlana Monis, a foreign-language teacher, began a year and four months after the opening of a criminal case against her husband, Alam Aliyev, who is accused of Part 1 of the same article. In parallel with the court hearings, Svetlana has to take care of her elderly grandmother, who lives separately.

Speaking in court, Svetlana Monis said: "I did not commit a crime against the state or against its constitutional order. I was not involved in any extremist organization. I would like to draw the court's attention once again to the fact that I am standing before you not because I committed any crime, but precisely for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Father, Jehovah God."

Svetlana had been under house arrest for more than 16 months, and in October 2019 the court seized her car.

The criminal prosecution of the believer was the result of a large-scale operation codenamed "Judgment Day," which took place in Birobidzhan on May 17, 2018. About 150 law enforcement officers took part in it.

As a result, 23 people, including Svetlana Monis and her husband, became the subjects of 19 criminal cases. Ten believers have already been sentenced to fines or suspended sentences. On appeal, Elena Reino-Chernyshova and Larisa Artamonova, whose cases were similar to those of Svetlana Monis, received harsher sentences and received suspended sentences instead of a fine.

One of the witnesses for the prosecution in the Svetlana Monis case was police officer Yulia Zvereva, who allegedly identified Monis on the videos. However, during the preliminary investigation witness Zvereva did not identify Svetlana Monis, so the information she gave in court was unreliable.

Yulia Zvereva herself, who acted as a witness for the prosecution in several trials against believers from Birobidzhan, admitted that she had not heard any extremist appeals from any of them. According to her, the services were peaceful, and the topics of family and child-rearing were discussed.

The Memorial Human Rights Center considers Jehovah's Witnesses in pre-trial detention and under house arrest to be political prisoners. "They are persecuted solely and directly for their faith and beliefs, for the exercise of their rights to freedom of conscience and association, guaranteed both by the Constitution and international norms," said Sergei Davidis, a member of the Council and head of the "Support for Political Prisoners" program.