In Pskov, Appeal Court Overturned the Conviction for Faith Against Aleksey Khabarov. His Case will be Considered by Another Judge

On November 26, 2021, the Pskov Regional Court overturned the conviction of Jehovah's Witness Aleksey Khabarov by a lower court and returned the case for a new trial before a different court. The believer remains under recognizance not to leave for the time being.

Although in the court of first instance the prosecutor demanded that Aleksey Khabarov be deprived of liberty for 3.5 years in a general regime colony, on September 7, 2021, the Porkhovsky District Court of the Pskov Region sentenced him to 3 years of suspended imprisonment with a probation period of 2 years. The court considered Aleksey's peaceful meetings with other Jehovah's Witnesses to be participation in the activities of an extremist organization. The believer appealed the verdict.

"My activity has never been related to harming the state," Aleksey Khabarov said in his last appeal and asked the court to acquit him, "How can you become an extremist while learning how to show love, respect, kindness and humility? How can the moral principles of the Bible be reconciled with hatred and enmity? For me, it's like different ends of the world that can't be connected!"

Alexey Khabarov is a teacher by education. Most recently he worked in the field of construction and repair. The believer was under recognizance not to leave for more than 2.5 years. Despite the fact that Aleksey is self-employed, he could not use his bank accounts, pay for services and make purchases.

In April 2019, in the city of Porkhov, searches were carried out in the homes of believers, including Alexei Khabarov. After interrogation, they took a written undertaking not to leave the place. It turned out that in March of the same year, Irina Pravdivtseva, an investigator for especially important cases from the FSB of Russia in the Pskov region, opened a criminal case against Aleksey Khabarov under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The investigator independently entered in the interrogation protocol the names and facts that Khabarov did not mention. The believer sent his testimony to the investigator stating that he had not provided the information inscribed in the protocol of the previous interrogation. In June 2020, the criminal case was sent to the prosecutor of the Pskov region. A week later, the prosecutor's office returned the materials of the criminal case to the investigation to eliminate the violations committed. In October 2020, hearings began in the Porkhovsky District Court, which lasted almost a year.

During the trial, not a single piece of evidence of Aleksey Khabarov's involvement in extremist activities was found. Testifying, the believer pointed out that his civil rights were violated under at least nine articles of the Russian Constitution. According to Aleksey, "the investigating authorities inappropriately freely interpret the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2017" and discriminate against him because of his religion.

Human rights activists of the SOVA Information and Analytical Center state: "We believe that this decision [of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2017], which led to mass persecution of believers under anti-extremist articles of the Criminal Code, had no legal grounds, and we regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination." According to the explanation of the Plenum of the Supreme Court, worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their performance of rites and ceremonies do not constitute a crime.