Court in the Khabarovsk Territory Gave Lubov Ovchinnikova and Lyubov Kocherova a 6-Year Suspended Sentence for Their Faith

On August 1, 2023, Angelina Sviderskaya, judge of the Khabarovskiy District Court, found Lubov Ovchinnikova, 64, and Lyubov Kocherova, 65, guilty of extremism. They were given a 6-year suspended sentence and 1 year and 6 months restriction of freedom with a probation period of 3 years.

Before the announcement of the verdict, the prosecutor had requested the court to send the believers to a penal colony for 6 years. During the closing arguments and in their final statements, the defendants resolutely denied being guilty of extremism. Lubov Ovchinnikova said: “I have nothing to do with violence and extremism. This is completely alien to me... I adhere to the principle of loving my neighbor”.

The case against the pensioners from the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye, Khabarovsk Territory, was initiated by the Investigative Committee in May 2022. Prior to this, FSB officer Stanislav Martyn, who pretended to be interested in the Bible, associated with the women for two years. According to the investigation, these conversations should be regarded as involvement in the activity of a banned organization and participation in it.

During the hearings, the defendants stated that Martyn's actions were inducement prohibited by Article 5 of the Law on Investigative Activities. According to Kocherova, she was taking driving lessons, during which the instructor constantly asked her about the Bible. The believer explained: “There was definitely no incitement [to any religious activity]. During the conversations, my only goal was to answer Martyn's questions." Lubov Ovchinnikova also stated: “Kocherova and I did not persuade Martyn to do anything, and did not recruit him... We were simply discussing the Bible with him at his own request.”

The believers also stressed that peaceful conversations about the Bible cannot be considered a crime. “The ban on legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses does not mean that after 2017 I was obliged to change my religion, stop studying the Bible and telling people what I myself learn from the Bible. Following the logic of the charges, it means that if, for example, a garment factory was liquidated in a certain city, then all women in Russia are now prohibited from sewing, and any attempts to sew clothes for themselves or their friends will be regarded as illegal activities,” Lyubov Kocherova explained.

The case of Kocherova and Ovchinnikova is linked to the case of their fellow villager Valeriy Rabota. It is being considered by the same judge, and the charges are based on the testimony of the same FSB agent Martyn.

To date, 172 women practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia have faced criminal prosecution for their faith. Five of them are serving sentences in penal colonies, two believers are in pre-trial detention centers.