The case of Shiyan and Matveyeva in Lesosibirsk

Case History

In November 2021, FSB and Investigative Committee officers conducted a series of searches in Lesosibirsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory) as part of the criminal case against Valeriy Shitz. The searches affected Andrey Shiyan and Anna Matveeva. In January 2023, separate criminal cases were opened against them. For discussing the Bible with friends, the investigation charged the man with organizing the activities of an extremist organization, and the woman with participating in the activities of a religious association. Subscriptions were taken from believers not to leave. In April 2023, Andrey Shiyan was searched again, during which he had to call an ambulance twice. In October, the criminal cases went to court, where they were later merged into one proceeding. In May 2024, another judge began to consider the case.

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    2020–2021 Tapping and hidden surveillance

    A woman who portrays an interest in Bible teachings secretly records worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses and her conversations about the Bible with believers.

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    November 25, 2021 Search

    Andrey Shiyan is undergoing the first search in the criminal case of Valeriy Shitz.

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    November 29, 2021 Search
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    January 18, 2023

    The materials against Anna Matveeva are separated into separate proceedings from the case of Valery Sheets.

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    January 30, 2023 Case initiated Art. 282.2 (2)

    Shiyan's case is separated from the Shitz case into a separate proceeding.

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    February 13, 2023 Search

    The Lesosibirsk City Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory issues a search warrant for Shiyan.

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    February 17, 2023 Interrogation Recognizance agreement

    Investigator Kunko interrogates Anna Matveeva as a suspect and takes a written undertaking not to leave her place.

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    February 27, 2023 Art. 282.2 (2)

    The investigation involves Anna Matveyeva as a defendant in committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

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    April 11, 2023 Search Recognizance agreement

    A second search of the believer is carried out. Data carriers, electronic devices and biblical literature are seized.
    The senior investigator of the investigation department for the city of Lesosibirsk, Major of Justice Artem Kunko, chooses a preventive measure for Andrey Shiyan in the form of a written undertaking not to leave and proper behavior.

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    October 27, 2023 Case went to court

    Matveeva's case is submitted to the Lesosibirsk City Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. It will be considered by judge Larisa Burdukovskaya.

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    October 31, 2023 Recognizance agreement

    Senior investigator of the investigation department for the city of Lesosibirsk, senior lieutenant of justice M. A. Pozdnyakova attracts Andrey Shiyan as an accused and again chooses for him a measure of restraint in the form of a written undertaking not to leave and proper behavior.

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    November 8, 2023

    Within the framework of Article 217 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, Andrey Shiyan begins to get acquainted with the case materials.

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    November 29, 2023

    The accused petitions for the termination of the criminal case. He states that he does not plead guilty to the crime, that the charge against him is unclear and that the exercise of constitutional and internationally protected rights cannot be considered a crime. Shiyan considers his involvement as an accused as discrimination and repression on the basis of religious affiliation and believes that the criminal case initiated against him should be terminated due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions.

    Investigator Pozdnyakov refuses to satisfy his request.

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    December 7, 2023 Art. 282.2 (1) Secret witness

    The prosecutor of the city of Lesosibirsk, Dmitry Snyatkov, approves the indictment against Andrey Shiyan. The accusation is based, among other things, on the testimony of secret witnesses, as well as Grigory Illarionov, associate professor of the Department of Philosophy at Siberian Federal University, who acts as an expert.

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    December 12, 2023 Case went to court

    Shiyan's case is submitted to the Lesosibirsk City Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. It will be considered by judge Larisa Burdukovskaya.

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    December 29, 2023 Hearing in a court of the first instance

    At the request of the prosecutor, the judge merges the criminal cases of Andrey Shiyan and Anna Matveeva into one.

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    January 9, 2024

    The lawyer files a complaint against the merger of the cases of Shiyan and Matveeva.

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    January 23, 2024 Hearing in a court of the first instance

    The defense is petitioning for the recusal of Judge Larisa Burdukovskaya. The court refuses.

    The lawyer also submits a motion to provide the defendants with time to familiarize themselves with the case materials after the connection of criminal cases - a total of 22 volumes. For this, the judge allocates 2 days to the defendants.

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    May 2, 2024 Retrial (court of first instance)

    The case materials are transferred to another judge, Yevhen Zadvorny. The case begins from the beginning.

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    July 23, 2024 Hearing in a court of the first instance

    Andrey Shiyan and Anna Matveeva express their attitude to the charges brought against them: they do not consider themselves guilty.

    Andrey Shiyan claims that the investigator substituted concepts and called the usual confession of faith extremist activity. He goes on to say: "I am wrongly accused of not renouncing my religion, but continuing to practice it with other believers. […] It is not clear to me on the basis of what authority the state prosecutor extrajudicially banned the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses."

    Anna says: "The indictment shows again and again that my fault was that I prayed with others, sang religious songs with them, listened to sermons. […] Nowhere in the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation does it say that it considered these ways of worship of God as unacceptable and even more so extremist."