Court of Appeal in Moscow Upheld 5 Years in Penal Colony for Aleksandr Serebryakov. Convicted Twice for the Same Thing

On May 22, 2025, the verdict in the second case against 48-year-old Aleksandr Serebryakov entered into force. A panel of judges of the Moscow City Court, chaired by Galina Lebedeva, agreed to his prison term but lifted the additional restriction of freedom that the believer was to serve after his release.

The prosecutor requested the court of appeal send the criminal case for a new trial, and the believer asked to be acquitted. Aleksandr mentioned that the second verdict, sentencing him to 5 years in a penal colony, "is actually repeating the verdict that has already entered into force and imposing a sentence for the same crime."

The second criminal case against Serebryakov was based on materials from his first case, which were literally copied from there. The lawyer called this "an obvious attempt to prosecute A.G. Serebryakov twice for the same crime with an increase and severity of the punishment imposed... which is unacceptable." Moreover, the verdict is based on several conclusions of experts, who did not appear in court for questioning. At the same time, there are no documents confirming their identity or specialist knowledge in the case materials.

By the time of the appeal hearing, Serebryakov had spent about 1.5 years in a pretrial detention center. Currently, 17 Jehovah's Witnesses from Moscow and the Moscow Region are in custody.