Six Jehovah's Witnesses in Vladivostok Received Suspended Sentences for Reading the Bible Together

On June 1, 2022, the judge of the Leninsky District Court of Vladivostok, Maksim Anufriyev, convicted Valentin Osadchuk, Nadezhda Anoykina, Nina Purge, Raisa Usanova, Lyubov Galaktionova, and Nailya Kogay for their faith.

The defendants were sentenced to various types of punishment: Valentin Osadchuk received 6 years suspended and 1 year of restriction of freedom; the rest of the defendants received 2 years of suspended imprisonment and 9 months of restriction of freedom. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believers insist on their complete innocence.

Despite the absence of a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence Valentin Osadchuk to 6.5 years in prison, and elderly women, the eldest of whom is 81 years old, to 5 years of suspended imprisonment. Valentin was accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization, and five women were accused of participating in it.

The believers have been subject to criminal prosecution since April 2018. The Federal Security Service of Russia for the Primorye Territory opened a criminal case against Valentin Osadchuk under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As part of this case, searches were carried out. Valentin spent 9 months in a pre-trial detention center and another 2.5 months under house arrest. In April 2019, part of the article under which he was accused was replaced — now he was charged with organizing extremist activities.

At the same time, six women were charged with extremism. They were under recognizance agreement for four years. The case against Yelena Zayshchuk was later suspended.

After 2 years and 9 months of investigation, in January 2021, the case was submitted to the Leninsky District Court of Vladivostok. While the proceedings went on, Nailya Kogaiy's husband died. “It's like losing one leg,” she says. “He was very worried about me. My persecution took a toll on his health. He died of cardiac arrest." The believer herself underwent a surgical operation during the same period.

Due to criminal prosecution, chronic diseases have worsened among older believers. Lyubov Galaktionova, 80, who has a group II disability, says: “I experienced great stress during the search. It was bad physically and emotionally. The most difficult thing was to survive the interrogations and the first days after it ... It was difficult to understand the course of the criminal case and what they generally talked about in court.”

All defendants in the case were included in the List of extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring. In her last speech, Nadezhda Anoykina said: “I still can’t receive my pension normally, because my card is blocked ... I continue to work to help sick parents, and it hurts me a lot that I can’t receive even my modest salary."

A total of 39 Jehovah's Witnesses in Primorye Territory are persecuted for their faith, and five have already been sentenced. The Russian authorities continue to maintain that this religion is not banned.