Photo: Dennis Christensen's detention center

Criminal Investigation and Trial

An appeal against the extension of the arrest of a Jehovah's Witness from Denmark is being heard in Oryol

Oryol Region

On September 20, 2017, the Oryol Regional Court is considering an appeal against the decision of the Sovetsky District Court of Oryol to extend the period of detention of Danish citizen Dennis Christensen for another 4 months. The believer is suspected of continuing the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, which was liquidated by the court. The lawyers are asking the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision to extend the prison sentence and choose a measure of restraint in the form of cash bail or house arrest against Dennis Christensen.

The decision to extend the period of detention was made on July 20, 2017 by Judge S. Naumova, the same one who made the initial decision to choose a measure of restraint in the form of imprisonment against the believer. In fact, when deciding whether to extend the period of detention and establishing whether there were grounds for choosing this measure of restraint, Judge Naumova had to decide whether her own actions in applying the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation regulating the procedure for choosing a preventive measure had previously been appropriate and sufficient. In other words, it was considering an issue on which it had previously decided, which is unacceptable in Russian legal proceedings. In accordance with this, the judge was unsuccessfully challenged at the hearing.

The court also ignored the arguments of the defense about the redundancy and unreasonableness of such a severe measure of restraint. For example, the meeting examined an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, as well as the charter of the liquidated organization, which confirm that Dennis Christensen, although he is Jehovah's Witness by religion, was not and could not be the founder, member or leader of this registered religious association, and therefore cannot be accused of continuing its activities. However, in its ruling, the court did not even mention this and did not evaluate any of the evidence presented by the defense.

Case of Christensen in Oryol

Case History
Dennis Christensen is the first Jehovah’s Witness in modern Russia to be imprisoned only because of his faith. He was arrested in May 2017. The FSB accused the believer of organizing the activities of a banned organization on the basis of the testimony of a secret witness, theologian Oleg Kurdyumov from a local university, who kept covert audio and video recordings of conversations with Christensen about faith. There are no extremist statements or victims in the case. In 2019, the court sentenced Christensen to 6 years in prison. The believer was serving time in the Lgov colony. He repeatedly asked for the replacement of part of the unserved term with a fine. For the first time, the court granted the request, but the prosecutor’s office appealed this decision, and the prison administration threw the believer into a punishment cell on trumped-up charges. Christensen developed illnesses that prevented him from working in prison. On May 24, 2022, the believer was released after serving his sentence and was immediately deported to his homeland, Denmark.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Oryol Region
Locality:
Oryol
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, together with the others he conducted religious services, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation” (with reference to the court’s decision on the liquidation of the local organisation of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11707540001500164
Initiated:
May 23, 2017
Current case stage:
The verdict entered into force
Investigating:
UFSB of Russia in the Oryol region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-37/1
[i18n] Рассмотрено судом первой инстанции:
Железнодорожный районный суд г. Орла
Judge:
Алексей Николаевич Руднев
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Орловский областной суд
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Льговский райсуд Курской области
Case History