The Court Sentenced Irina Perefileva from the Village of Mednogorsk to Five and a Half years of Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible
Karachay-Cherkessia*Text updated August 30, 2023
On August 28, 2023, the Urupskiy District Court of the Karachayevo-Circassion Republic found 58-year-old Irina Perefileva guilty of extremism because of her faith. Judge Ida Uzdenova gave her five years and six months suspended sentence with a probationary period of two and a half years and restriction of freedom for one year eight months.
"My religious beliefs have nothing to do with extremism," Irina Perefileva said in court. "My conscience is clear before the law, society and the state, because I did not commit the crime of which I am accused."
In January 2021, in the village of Mednogorskiy, FSB officers raided the apartments of believers, among them was Irina. After ten months, she was searched. The Zelenchukskiy Interdistrict Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic accused Irina of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization and participation in it. This is how the investigators regarded the fact that Irina talked to others about the Bible and participated in peaceful religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Perefileva was given a recognizance agreement in October 2022. In addition, she was included in the list of Rosfinmonitoring, all accounts and deposits of the believer were blocked. She shares: "This delays the issuance of pensions and creates inconvenience in paying utility bills and other services." Irina has to take care of her disabled son and her elderly mother who is 85.
The investigation lasted a year and in November 2022 the case went to court. As the defense emphasizes, no evidence of the believer's guilt was provided. A key witness for the prosecution, a local resident, stated that she herself turned to Irina with Bible questions. She also stressed that she had never heard from Irina calls for any illegal activity. During the hearings, the judge attached to the case a letter received from Germany from Irina's fellow believers with a request not to punish Irina Perefileva for her faith.
The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed.
Active persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic has been observed since 2010. Four people became defendants in criminal cases. Two of them have already received suspended sentences.
