Verdict Was Announced for the 99th of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. Andrey Stupnikov Received Six Years of Prison for Reading the Bible

On June 3, 2021, the judge of the Krasnoyarsk Zheleznodorozhny District Court, Marina Poptsova, found 47-year-old engineer Andrey Stupnikov guilty of organizing extremist activities because of his faith and sentenced him to 6 years in a general regime colony. The believer is taken into custody in the courtroom.

The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on his complete innocence.

Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to impose a sentence of 6 years in prison on Stupnikov, with the deprivation of the right to engage in leadership activities in public associations for a term of 5 years and restriction of liberty for 1.5 years.

According to the prosecution, Stupnikov's guilt lies in the fact that he did not renounce his religious beliefs and participated in peaceful worship, said prayers, sang hymns and discussed the Bible. The state prosecutor used the term "banned Jehovah's Witnesses organization," although an organization with that name never existed.

Andrey Stupnikov at the age of 5 moved with his parents to the city of Grozny. In the 1990s, a military conflict broke out in this region. It was then that Andrey learned firsthand what real extremism is. He was captured by the militants, experienced fear, pain, beatings; saw the death of innocent people. As a result of those events, Andrey Stupnikov became an internally displaced person.

The believer was detained on July 3, 2018 at 4:20 am at the Krasnoyarsk international airport. FSB officers took Stupnikov to the Security Service Directorate, and on the same day a criminal case was opened against him. It was investigated by the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Krasnoyarsk Territory for more than a year and a half. As part of this case, more than 30 searches were carried out in the homes of Krasnoyarsk residents. The case materials reached 15 volumes, including audio and video surveillance recordings made even before the arrest.

Since his arrest, Andrey Stupnikov spent 241 days in a pre-trial detention center, 124 days under house arrest, and for almost two years remained under a ban on certain actions. De jure, he served more than 1 year and 2 months of the sentence assigned to him). On February 18, 2020, his case was submitted to the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of the city of Krasnoyarsk.

In the early 2000s, Andrey visited criminals in prisons, telling them about God, helping them to find hope, abandon the criminal path and become useful members of society. He said in his last speech: “The experience gained in communicating with this category of people helped me too, when I myself was already in jail. By the way, there I saw how the Bible has a beneficial effect on people. Over time, the cell where I was located became exemplary. Imagine, Your Honor, everyone quit smoking and swearing, introduced a fine for swearing! All commissions brought us ... And now, Your Honor, I sincerely cannot understand: why they call me an extremist?"

In addition to the case of Andrey Stupnikov, 10 other criminal cases have been initiated in the region against 13 Jehovah's Witnesses. The Russian authorities consider any spiritual life of believers of this religion as illegal. Andrey Stupnikov, addressing the court, asked a question to which he has not heard an answer until now: "How was I supposed to confess my unforbidden faith so as not to break the law?"

Russian and international human rights activists call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to immediately end the persecution on religious grounds.