Unjust Verdicts

Court of Cassation Upheld the Verdict Against Five Believers from Blagoveshchensk

Amur Region

On September 26, a panel of judges of the Ninth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Vladivostok upheld the verdict against Sergey Afanasiyev, Anton Olshevskiy, Sergey Kardakov, Adam Svarichevskiy and Sergey Yermilov. Each of them received more than 6 years in a penal colony for their faith.

It was noted in one of the court of cassation's appeals, that "Even in Soviet times, during the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, believers were not always sentenced to imprisonment, especially for such a long period as in the present case".

All five of the believers from Blagoveshchensk have pleaded not guilty and believe that they are not being persecuted for a crime, but for practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. In support of this, the believers point out that law enforcement agencies have not established a single fact pointing to their engagement in any unlawful activity.

All of this runs contarary to the decision of the Plenum of the RF Supreme Court, which states that "actions consisting exclusively in the exercise of their right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion... if such do not contain elements of extremism, do not on their own constitute the corpus delicti."

The Case of Olshevskiy and Others in Blagoveshchensk

Case History
In July 2018, searches were carried out at 7 addresses in Blagoveshchensk as part of a criminal case against local believers. A little over 1 year later, Obukhov, an investigator of the FSB Directorate for the Amur Region, initiated a criminal case against Anton Olshevskiy and Sergey Yermilov on suspicion of participating in extremist activity. In September 2020, Adam Svarichevskiy, Sergey Afanasiyev and Sergey Kardakov (his home was searched) also became defendants in this case. In March 2021, the charges against the believers were changed: all five were changed with organizing the activity of an extremist organization, and Afanasiyev was also charged with financing it. In September 2021, the case against the believers went to court. A year and 2 months later, the court found the believers guilty of extremism and sentenced Afanasiyev to 6.5 years, Kardakov to 6 years and 4 months, and Yermilov, Olshevskiy and Svarichevskiy to 6 years and 3 months in a penal colony. The courts of appeal and cassation upheld the verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Afanasiyev
Sergey
Kardakov
Sergey
Olshevskiy
Anton
Svarichevskiy
Adam
Yermilov
Sergey

Criminal case

Region:
Amur Region
Locality:
Blagoveshchensk
Suspected of:
According to the investigation he participated in continuing the activity of the liquidated organization through direct involvement in religious events
Court case number:
11907100001000062
Initiated:
October 21, 2019
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate of Russia for the Amur Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Court case number:
1-135/2022 (1-1408/2021)
Court:
Blagoveshchensk City Court of the Amur Region
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Darya Varkalevich
Case History
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