The Case of Penskaya in Vyselki

The house of Vasilina Penskaya and her husband Dmitry is being searched on the basis of the decision of the investigator A. A. Garmash. Bank cards, laptops and phones are confiscated from the believer. Law enforcement officers are interested in the religion of the young woman, and also ask if she is familiar with the names they voiced.

A criminal case is being initiated against Penskaya under the article on participation in the activities of an extremist organization. The believer's bank accounts are blocked.

Senior investigator, senior lieutenant of justice Roman Latysh interrogates Penskaya and her husband.

Vasilina Penskaya was charged under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and she was charged with a written undertaking not to leave the place.

The case goes to the Vyselkovsky District Court. It will be considered by judge Roman Teplukhin.

Hearings on the merits of the case begin.

Seven believers, including Vasilina, whose cases are being heard in the Vyselkovsky District Court, file a petition to merge their cases into one.

The judge rejects the motion to join the cases.

The court reads out the indictment, which states that Penskaya "took a direct part in religious teaching and sermons," "conducted and listened to lectures based on the religious literature of Jehovah's Witnesses," and "entered into conversations and religious discussions with other participants."

The indictment was based, among other things, on the testimony of a man under the pseudonym Shepherd, who since June 2022 had been collaborating with the FSB and making covert audio and video recordings of Jehovah's Witnesses worship services.

"I do not plead guilty and I believe that the charge against me is illegal," says Vasilina Penskaya.

The court reads out written evidence, including transcripts of worship services. The prosecutor begins to read out the protocols of interrogations of the defendants from the Ushakov case. Lawyers object, because they are not witnesses in the case of Penskaya. The court will announce the decision to exclude these protocols from the case file at the next hearing.

The lawyer submits an oral motion on the inadmissibility of disclosing and examining the testimony of Vitaly Ushakov, Valery Vechkaev and Vladimir Kolesnikov, who are in another case. The prosecution asks for time to prepare.

The court examines religious and linguistic expertise.

A secret prosecution witness under the pseudonym Pastor, whose testimony appears in the cases of several other Jehovah's Witnesses from the village of Vyselki, is being interrogated. He does not know the defendant Penskaya personally and cannot confirm the fact of her presence at meetings for worship.

At the request of the prosecutor's office, investigator Roman Latysh is interrogated. The defense is interested in how he was able to listen to 63 hours of meetings for worship in 2 hours and draw up a 300-page protocol. During the interrogation, it turns out that the investigator copied data from similar cases against believers in Vyselki.

The defense petitions for the exclusion of a comprehensive psychological, linguistic, religious and author's examination from the case materials in connection with violations of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The judge rejects the defense's motion to exclude the expert examination from the case file.

The prosecutor requests a 2-year suspended sentence for the defendant.

"I believe that the prosecution failed to prove not only the corpus delicti in Penskaya's actions, but also that a crime was actually committed," the lawyer says in her closing arguments. She notes that the prosecution did not cite a single statement "falling under the concept of extremism" and based its line of reasoning on a few phrases taken out of context.

The lawyer also mentioned the position of the ECHR, which has repeatedly pointed out that the criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses is nothing less than repression for faith.

"Freedom of conscience is a fundamental human right. My choice of faith is my personal choice, and it does not pose a threat to society." Vasilina Penskaya makes her final statement.