The Case of Brattseva in Razdolnoye

Senior investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Crimea, Senior Lieutenant Y. A. Merkulov, opens a criminal case against 68-year-old Tamara Bratseva for "organizing the activities of a religious association, in respect of which the court made a decision to liquidate it in connection with extremist activities."

Early in the morning, armed law enforcement officers searched the house of Tamara Bratseva and her husband. Electronic devices and personal records were seized from the woman. After the search, the believer is taken away for interrogation and a written undertaking not to leave is taken from her.

Senior Lieutenant of Justice Y. A. Merkulov charges Tamara Bratseva. According to the investigation, the pensioner "organized... collective religious worship... in the form of public reproduction of [religious] audio recordings and video recordings ... sequential performance of songs."

The Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea satisfies Tamara Bratseva's appeal and overturns the decision of the court of first instance to allow a search of the believer's home. The case was sent for a new trial to the Razdolnensky District Court of the Republic of Crimea.

Tamara Bratseva's case goes to court. It will be considered by Judge Maria Bedritskaya.

Due to the interrogation of a classified witness, the judge is holding the hearing behind closed doors, despite the objections of the defense. During the hearing, Tamara Brattseva feels bad due to high blood pressure.

"If I were engaged in extremism, I could not remain Jehovah's Witness, since I would no longer meet the requirements of the Bible," says Tamara Brattseva, denying guilt. She emphasizes that for more than 40 years she has been living in the village of Razdolnoye, where she is known as a respectable person.

Despite the closed mode of the session, about 10 people come to the courthouse to express support for the defendant.

At the 5-hour meeting, witnesses for the prosecution are interrogated. The first is an operative who participated in the search activities against Brattseva and was present during the search in her home. He notes that he did not hear threats or insults from the woman.

Next, four elderly women are interrogated, the eldest of whom is almost 80 years old. They give a positive characteristic of the defendant.

Bratseva's husband gets into a serious accident. The next day, he was hospitalized and found to have a serious illness. Tamara is shocked by this news. According to acquaintances, she is very afraid of losing her husband and is depressed.

The judge allocates a spacious hall for hearings. A secret prosecution witness appears at the hearing. The defense filed a motion for its declassification, but the court refused. The interrogation takes place on the radio.

The witness claims that she does not know the defendant personally, but heard about her from another woman. According to a secret witness, the defendant allegedly coordinated meetings, distributed speeches and handed over literature. At the same time, the witness does not hide his negative attitude towards the defense: he answers the question with a question, addresses the lawyer in a raised voice. However, she is forced to admit that she has not heard any extremist calls from Bratseva.

For five and a half hours, the prosecutor examines the transcripts of conversations of believers on everyday and religious topics.

Stress due to the trial, the difficult diagnosis of her husband affected the health of Tamara Bratseva: at the hearings she is with high blood pressure, constantly takes medications to sit out to the end. According to eyewitnesses, it seems that the believer is about to lose consciousness.

The prosecutor asks to send the 69-year-old believer to a colony for 6 years and 4 months.

The prosecutor asks to send 69-year-old Tamara Brattseva to a colony for 6 years and 4 months.

The defendant's lawyer draws attention to the unfairness and cruelty of the prosecutor's demand in relation to the believer: "The fact that the prosecution is asking for such a cruel punishment - imprisonment for a person whose only 'guilt' is that he prayed, read the Bible and sought to live according to his conscience - is not just a legal error. This is a moral fall. To turn faith into proof of guilt means to replace justice with repression, and the law with arbitrariness. Such actions of the prosecutor's office are not only devoid of compassion, but also deeply blasphemous: they encroach on the sacred – on the right of a person to seek God and live in harmony with his conscience. This is not a fight against extremism, this is a fight against beliefs, and it has nothing to do with law."

In her final statement, Tamara Brattseva speaks of her faith and firmness of convictions: "If I am convicted, it will not change anything. I will continue to love Jehovah and worship only him."

About 40 people come to the courthouse to support the elderly believer.

Instead of the expected verdict, the judge announces a return to the stage of judicial investigation.

Interrogation of religious expert Olga Griva. The defense challenges the expert due to the lack of documents confirming her qualifications, but the court rejects the motion. The expert does not give clear answers to the questions of the defense, and in cases where it is difficult to answer, the prosecutor intervenes, interrupts and tries to answer for the expert.

When asked about the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, Olga Griva answers indistinctly, uses offensive labels in her conclusion, and states that she is not obliged to understand the structure of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Investigator Yakov Merkulov, who opened a case against Tamara Brattseva, is interrogated. He denies that he put pressure on witnesses during interrogations, but admits that some of them later retracted their testimony.

Judge Maria Bedritskaya dismisses the defense's questions about the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the law on extremism, which formed the basis of the charge. She states that law enforcement officers should not be "examined". Merkulov himself ignores the questions of the lawyer and the defendant. And when a 70-year-old woman asks him to speak louder, he answers: "I say as I want."

After a doctor's examination, Tamara Brattseva was recommended surgery. The believer is worried that the treatment may coincide with the announcement of the verdict.

The interrogation of linguistic expert Natalia Segal is taking place via video conferencing. After analyzing the telephone conversation between Brattseva and her friend, the expert concluded that, consoling a seriously ill person, the believer "played the role of a communicative leader." When asked by the defendant whether a communicative leader must be the head of an organization, the expert answers in the negative. In addition, Segal confirms that there are no extremist calls in Bratseva's words.

The day before, Tamara Brattseva underwent a planned operation. The court attaches documents about her state of health.

The prosecutor again requested a imprisonment sentence of 6 years and 4 months for the elderly believer. Brattseva also speaks in the debate with her final statement.