The Sentence of Sona Olopova from Tolyatti Entered Into Force After an Appeal — Two Years of Forced Labor for Believing in Jehovah God

On April 3, 2024, the Samara Regional Court upheld the verdict of Sona Olopova — 2 years of forced labor. The court deemed her participation in joint Bible discussions via video link to be extremism.

In her appeal, Sona noted that the court of first instance did not consider ordinary religious practice as exercising the right to freedom of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which the RF Supreme Court did not prohibit. Instead, in the opinion of the believer, only the fact of professing the religion was enough for the court to pass a sentence. The court did not clarify or establish any other circumstances. In her final statement before the judicial panel, she said: "The materials of my criminal case do not contain a single criminal act, not a single statement against the state, against people of other religions or against people of other nationalities."

The "evidence" included an expert study from another criminal case, in which Olopova is not even mentioned, as well as the testimony of a secret witness who claimed that Sona was distributing banned literature but had not seen it himself.

In the Samara Region, 10 Jehovah's Witnesses have already been prosecuted for their faith, five of whom have been sentenced to imprisonment for terms from 7 to 8 years.