Yevgeniy Bushev in front of the Kalininsky District Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, October 2023

Yevgeniy Bushev in front of the Kalininsky District Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, October 2023

Yevgeniy Bushev in front of the Kalininsky District Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, October 2023

Unjust Verdicts

Court in Chelyabinsk Sentenced Yevgeniy Bushev to 7 Years in Prison After Just Five Hearings

Chelyabinsk Region

On November 7, 2023, Judge Anton Yerofeyev of the Kalininskiy District Court of Chelyabinsk found Yevgeniy Bushev, one of Jehovah's Witnesses, guilty of extremism. The court considered peaceful gatherings and conversations on Bible topics to be a crime. There were only five hearings.

The case against Bushev was initiated by Aleksandr Chepenko, investigator of the Investigative Committee, who has at least 12 similar cases in the region. In September 2022, Yevgeniy's house was searched. A year after that, the case went to court, and 2 months later it reached its final stage. The prosecutor requested 6 years in a penal colony for Bushev.

According to the investigation, the believer "took deliberate, purposeful actions of an organizational nature aimed at continuing the illegal activity of a banned religious organization." However, Yevgeniy was not a member of any extremist organization, but only practiced his religion, as Jehovah's Witnesses do all over the world. This religion is also not banned in Russia.

The defense emphasizes that there is no single evidence of an extremist statement or action on the part of Bushev in the case materials. There is a linguistic expert study in the case, according to which Yevgeniy "persuaded" an agent of the special services, an employee of the National Guard, who was pretending to be interested in the Bible, to "accept the faith" of Jehovah's Witnesses. According to Bushev, the authors of the expert study took his phrases out of context and distorted their meaning. In fact, the believer only discussed with the man Bible questions that interested him.

Yevgeniy Bushev has been under house arrest since September 2022. Due to the criminal prosecution, he lost his job and his accounts were blocked.

Already 15 of Jehovah's Witnesses from the Chelyabinsk Region have been prosecuted on religious grounds.

The Case of Bushev in Chelyabinsk

Case History
One September evening in 2022, Yevgeniy Bushev from Chelyabinsk was visiting a friend whose home was raided by law enforcement officers while he was there. It turned out, the Investigative Committee suspected Yevgeniy of participating in the activity of an extremist organization, and a criminal case was initiated against him. The believer was taken to his home for it to be searched, and the next day he was placed under a recognizance agreement. Later, the charge was reclassified to organizing the activity of an extremist organization. According to investigator Aleksandr Chepenko, Bushev is guilty of extremism because he attended the meetings for worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses and talked with people about the Bible. Testimony against the believer was given by a National Guard officer, who feigned interest in the Bible. In August 2023, the court accepted the case materials for consideration, and 2 months later sentenced the believer to 7 years of imprisonment. In April 2024, the court of appeal reduced this term to 6 years in a penal colony.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Chelyabinsk Region
Locality:
Chelyabinsk
Suspected of:
"took deliberate purposeful actions of an organizational nature aimed at continuing the illegal activity of a banned religious organization" (from the indictment)
Court case number:
12202750030000030
Initiated:
August 24, 2022
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Chelyabinsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-982/2023
Court of First Instance:
Kalininskiy District Court of the City of Chelyabinsk
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Anton Yerofeyev
Case History
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