Andrey Sazonov on the day of the verdict

Andrey Sazonov on the day of the verdict

Andrey Sazonov on the day of the verdict

Unjust Verdicts

In Uray, Andrey Sazonov Was Again Fined for Reading the Bible

Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area

On October 23, 2023, Igor Pospelov, judge of the Uray City Court, found Andrey Sazonov, 43, guilty of extremism for discussing the Bible. The believer was fined 450,000 rubles.

Two years earlier, the court imposed a fine of 500,000 rubles on Sazonov. The court of appeal overturned the verdict and returned the case for a new trial. The retrial lasted almost 1.5 years. The witnesses for the prosecution described Sazonov positively. It became clear that there are no victims in the case, and religious and linguistic expert studies did not reveal any extremist statements in the examined materials. The prosecutor requested a fine of 1,300,000 rubles for the believer.

In his final statement, the believer said: "I have not said or done anything that could be related to extremism. Moreover, my respect and faith in God do not even allow me to think about anything like that."

Andrey Sazonov has already been defending the right to freely practice his faith for almost 4 years. A criminal case against him was initiated in January 2019. Shortly afterwards, a series of searches and interrogations took place in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, during which several believers were tortured.

A total of 27 Jehovah's Witnesses in the region are being prosecuted solely for exercising their right to freedom of religion.

The Case of Sazonov in Uray

Case History
In January 2019, Andrey Sazonov, father of two minor children and deputy general director of an energy company, faced persecution for his faith. The investigator of the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against him for organizing extremist activity. After a search and interrogation, the believer was placed in a pretrial detention center for 20 days, then placed under house arrest, and 6 months later under a ban on certain actions. Later, Andrey Sazonov was also charged with financing the activity of an extremist organization. The court considered the case from June 2020 to December 2021. As a result, Sazonov was sentenced to a fine of 500,000 rubles. The court of appeal overturned this decision and sent the case back to the same court for a new trial, but with a different panel of judges. In June 2022, the second hearing began, and in October 2023, the court imposed a fine of 450,000 rubles on the believer. In January 2024, a court of appeal overturned the verdict for a second time and sent the case back for reconsideration.
Timeline

Persons in case

Sazonov
Andrey

Criminal case

Region:
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area
Locality:
Uray
Suspected of:
religious affiliation is deemed as “organising and participating in the activity of an extremist organisation” (with reference to the court decision on the liquidation of the local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses)
Court case number:
11902711001000310
Initiated:
January 31, 2019
Current case stage:
trial in court of first instance
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area-Yugra
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Court case number:
1-59/2024
Court:
Uray City Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area-Yugra
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Viktor Yarishev
Case History
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