Case of Shalev and Others in Smolensk

About 15 armed riot police, investigators, and police officers entered the Jehovah's Witnesses worship building on Pushkin Street in Smolensk while a service was being held there with about 60 believers. Law enforcement officers purposefully go to the toilet and pretend to have found a brochure included in the list of extremist materials. (By that time, evidence had already accumulated that law enforcement officers and persons cooperating with them systematically planted prohibited items on believers.)

It becomes known about the initiation of the first criminal case in the region for faith. The FSB, together with the CPE and SOBR, conducts searches in the homes of believers . The court sends Natalia Sorokina and Maria Troshina to jail.

The homes of believers in Smolensk are searched, and they are taken by the security forces for interrogation to the Investigative Department of the FSB, from where they never leave. It becomes known that a criminal case has been initiated under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The case is being investigated by the Investigative Department of the FSB of Russia in the Smolensk region.

The Leninskiy District Court of Smolensk is imprisoning three local believers, Ruslan Korolev, 36, Valery Shalev, 41, and Viktor Malkov, 60.

In Dagomys (Krasnodar Territory), 30-year-old Smolensk resident Yevgeny Deshko, the fourth suspect in this criminal case, was detained and taken to Smolensk.

A court in Smolensk sends Yevgeniy Deshko, who is suspected of professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, to prison for 2 months.

Ruslan Korolev was released from the pre-trial detention center, where he spent almost four months. Now the believer will be under house arrest, but three more men and two women remain imprisoned in the Smolensk pre-trial detention center.

The court changes Deshko's measure of restraint from detention to house arrest until December 25, 2019.

Investigator Bezrukov deceives 81-year-old Alexandra Ulyanova out of a sanatorium in the suburbs of Smolensk, interrogates her to the FSB for 6 hours. He tells the woman that he "wants to figure it out" and make sure that her friends and acquaintances are innocent. After interrogation, he takes her home and soon arrives to search her house.

After 207 days in the pre-trial detention center, Yevgeny Deshko was transferred to house arrest. Of the defendants in this case, Valery Shalev and Viktor Malkov remain in the pre-trial detention center. On the same day, security forces searched the house of a local resident, Irina Marusova. The woman was summoned for questioning.

The Leninsky District Court of Smolensk extends Korolev's measure of restraint in the form of house arrest until March 25, 2020.

Denis Nikishov, judge of the Leninsky District Court of Smolensk, releases Viktor Malkov from custody in the courtroom. He was placed under house arrest.

A decision is made to release Valery Shalev from the pre-trial detention center. After spending 240 days behind bars, he will languish under house arrest.

The Smolensk Regional Court on appeal reduces the period of Shalev's detention under house arrest until March 23, 2020.

The investigator of the FSB Directorate for the Smolensk Region, G. P. Bezrukov, decides to soften the measure of restraint for four believers (Yevgeny Deshko, Ruslan Korolev, Viktor Malkov and Valery Shalev) and replaces house arrest with a written undertaking not to leave.

He argues the ruling by the fact that the believers have positive characteristics from their places of work, study and residence, and also did not interfere with the investigation of the case during additional interrogations. In view of this, he concludes that the preliminary investigation authorities have no reason to believe that the accused may obstruct further investigation of the case or abscond from the investigation.

However, investigator G.P. Bezrukov also mentions that believers are still accused of committing a serious crime. In other words, the mitigation of the measure of restraint does not mean that the charges against them are dropped.

Viktor Malkov died. He had a sick heart. Viktor's health was largely affected by the poor conditions of detention in the pre-trial detention center and the stress associated with criminal prosecution.

At a meeting of the Industrial District Court of Smolensk, the prosecutor asks to send to jail 31-year-old Yevgeny Deshko and 38-year-old Ruslan Korolev for 9 years, and 43-year-old Valery Shalev for 8 years.

Judge of the Industrial District Court of Smolensk, Marina Masalskaya, finds the believers guilty of extremism and imposes 6.5 years of suspended imprisonment on Valeriy Shalev and Ruslan Korolev with a probationary period of 5 years, 1 year of restriction of liberty and a ban on holding positions in religious organizations for a period of 4 years; Yevgeniy Deshko was sentenced to 6 years probation with a probationary period of 4 years, 1 year of restriction of freedom and a ban on holding positions in religious organizations for a period of 3 years. Viktor Malkov was also found guilty under Part 1 of Article 282.2, his case was dismissed due to his death.

The court postpones the appeal decision until August 31. When checking the attendance of participants at the beginning of the meeting, it turned out that a lawyer had not been appointed for Vera Malkova, who represents the interests of Viktor Malkov's deceased husband in court.

The Smolensk Regional Court upholds the verdict of the three believers. 32-year-old Yevgeniy Deshko was sentenced to 6 years probation with a probation period of 4 years, 1 year of restriction of freedom and a ban on holding positions in religious organizations for a period of 3 years, 43-year-old Valery Shalev and 42-year-old Ruslan Korolev — 6.5 years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 5 years, 1 year of restriction of freedom and a ban on holding positions in religious organizations for a period of 4 years.

At a meeting of the Second Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, the believers' complaint against the court verdict is being considered. They believe that the decision was made in violation of national and international law.

Ruslan Korolev, Valery Shalev and the representative of the deceased Viktor Malkov emphasize that law enforcement agencies have not established a single fact of extremist actions committed by convicts. As arguments about the illegality of the verdict, believers cite the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the ECHR rulings regarding Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Judicial Collegium, composed of the presiding judge Natalia Vlasenko, as well as judges Pavel Kolegov and Igor Chaplygin, leaves the verdict and the appellate ruling unchanged.