Tatyana Piskareva

Tatyana Piskareva

Tatyana Piskareva

Unjust Verdicts

A Court in Oryol Sentenced Tatyana Piskareva, 67, to 2.5 Years of Forced Labor for Participating in Peaceful Worship. Earlier, her Husband Had Received 6 Years in a Penal Colony for Similar Charges

Oryol Region

Tatyana Piskareva, a pensioner from Oryol, was found guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization because of her faith. On March 1, 2024, Dmitriy Sukhov, judge of the Sovetskiy District Court of Oryol, sentenced her to 2 years and 6 months of forced labor.

The believer's case continues the trend of prosecuting several family members at once: Tatyana's husband, Vladimir, received 6 years in a penal colony under an article for extremism and is now awaiting an appeal. He was arrested after searches in December 2020 and has been behind bars ever since. There he suffered several hypertensive crises and a stroke; he was diagnosed with coronary artery disease. Tatyana said: "I wanted to help my husband when he had a crisis, but I could not help in any way. It was painful to watch the inactivity of the pretrial detention center."

The RF Investigative Committee initiated a case against Piskareva in October 2021. She was accused of participating in meetings for worship via video conferencing. A year and a half later, the trial began. At the hearing, it turned out that 11 of the 13 prosecution witnesses did not know the believer.

"I love all people regardless of their nationality, race, skin color and language, religion and other beliefs. I hate extremism in any form," Tatyana said during the trial. "I am a believer, one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and this is not a crime." The decision of the court may be appealed in higher instances.

The Case of Piskareva in Oryol

Case History
In December 2020, raids against Jehovah's Witnesses took place in Oryol. Among those to whom the security forces broke in were Vladimir Piskarev and his wife Tatyana. Vladimir was arrested. In October 2021, Tatyana also became a defendant in a criminal case for her belief in Jehovah God. The believer was accused of participating in peaceful worship. In March 2023, the case went to court. Eleven interrogated prosecution witnesses reported that they did not know Tatyana, had not received any literature from her, and had not heard any extremist appeals. After a year of court hearings, the believer was sentenced to 2.5 years of forced labor. The court of appeal and cassation upheld this decision.
Timeline

Persons in case

Piskareva
Tatyana

Criminal case

Region:
Oryol Region
Locality:
Oryol
Suspected of:
According to the investigation, she "took part in meetings of a banned religious organization."
Court case number:
12102540005000067
Initiated:
October 28, 2021
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department for the Sovetskiy District of the City of Oryol of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-9/2024 (1-183/2023)
Court of First Instance:
Sovetskiy District Court of the City of Oryol
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Dmitriy Sukhov
Case History
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