The Court of Appeal Confirmed the Acquittal of the Sergiev Posad Elders

Today, August 24, 2017, the Moscow Regional Court upheld the acquittal of two Jehovah's Witnesses from Sergiev Posad. Vyacheslav Stepanov and Andrey Sivak are innocent. It took law enforcement agencies and the court more than 7 years to establish this simple truth!

The long-term unfair criminal prosecution of these law-abiding citizens was based on a "Reference" signed by expert Natalia Kryukova, who on October 11, 2010, after analyzing the video recordings of the sermons they read, declared the presence of extremism in them. Expert Kryukova, among other things, is known for the fact that on the basis of her "conclusion" the Bible itself was recognized as extremist material!

After Vyacheslav Stepanov and Andrey Sivak were charged under Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement to hatred or enmity committed by an organized group) on July 16, 2013, these believers were included in the list of "accomplices of extremism". As a result, among other things, their accounts were blocked. Andrey Sivak was forced to leave teaching.

Today's court decision means that Sergiev Posad residents Vyacheslav Stepanov and Andrey Sivak have the right to rehabilitation.