Fines for Two Women and Suspended Sentences for Two Men. Jehovah's Witnesses Sentenced in Chuvashia

On December 22, 2022, the judge of the Alatyrskiy District Court of Chuvash Republic, Ivan Konchulizov, found four believers guilty of extremism and imposed on Zoya Pavlova and Nina Martynova to a fine of 350,000 rubles, and on Mikhail Yermakov and Andrey Martynov a 6-year of suspended sentence with a probationary period of 3 years.

On behalf of all the defendants, 58-year-old Andrey Martynov said: “There are no victims in this case, the state has not suffered in any way, and in fact there is no crime what so ever. But we are the victims; the defendants are husbands, wives, mothers, exemplary workers”. Nina, 64, has worked all her life as a kindergarten teacher; Andrey has been a driver and stoker in a boiler room for the last 25 years; Zoya, 57, has worked at a mechanical plant and in the housing and communal services sector, and Mikhail, 60, has been a janitor.

The persecution of believers began in June 2021, when searches were carried out in the city of Alatyr and a criminal case was opened. It took the Investigative Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia for Chuvash Republic a little more than a year to conduct an investigation, and in July 2022 the case went to court. The prosecutor requested that the believers be sent to a penal colony: Andrey Martynov and Mikhail Yermakov—6 years each, Nina Martynova—5 years and Zoya Pavlova—4.5 years.

Defending her right to freedom of religion, Zoya Pavlova said at the trial: “Any believer will share what he has learned and meet with his friends for discussion and association. If this is not done, then the meaning of faith simply disappears”. Nina Martynova added: “If someone reads the Bible, believes in Jehovah God, loves his neighbor, sings religious songs, it cannot harm anyone. How can this undermine the foundations of the security of the state?”

The verdict has not entered into force. Believers insist on their complete innocence and they intend to appeal the court's decision.

In Chuvash Republic, three more Jehovah's Witnesses faced persecution for their faith. In January 2022, heavy fines were imposed on them.

In a ruling dated June 7, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights criticized the actions of the Russian authorities against believers and stated that “criminal prosecution and criminal liability for the peaceful practice of the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses, together with others, was based on an unacceptably broad formulation and arbitrary application of anti-extremism legislation” (§ 272).