The Court of Appeal in Gorno-Altaisk Upheld 6.5-Year Suspended Sentence for Aleksandr Kalistratov. 12 Years ago He Had Been Under Trial at the Same Court

On April 20, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Altai Republic, chaired by Judge Irina Barsukova, upheld the sentence against Aleksandr Kalistratov, who two months earlier had been given a 6.5-year suspended sentence for his faith. The believer still does not admit his guilt for extremism.

In 2010, Aleksandr already appeared twice before the Supreme Court of the Altai Republic, defending his convictions. He became one of the first Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia to face charges under an article for extremism. Then the court fully acquitted the believer, recognizing his criminal prosecution as unlawful. He was given the right to rehabilitation. But in 2021, a criminal case was initiated against him again.

Aleksandr Kalistratov was one of the applicants in the case of Taganrog LRO and Others v. Russia (application No. 32401/10) before the European Court of Human Rights. On June 7, 2022, the court concluded that in relation to the religious activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Russia had shown “indications of a policy of intolerance... towards the religious practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to cause Jehovah’s Witnesses to abandon their faith and to prevent others from joining it” (§254).