Court of Appeal: It is illegal to seize property to ensure payment of a fine for faith

On October 10, 2019, the Kirov Regional Court canceled the arrest of Anatoly Tokarev's apartment, imposed earlier by the court of first instance. The court ruled that it is against the law to seize the property of believers in case the court imposes a fine on them under an "extremist" article.

The decision to arrest the apartment and garden belonging to the family of Anatoly Tokarev was made on July 1, 2019 by Sergey Skorobogaty, a judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Kirov. At the same time, housing with a plot of land is in the possession of Lydia Kachurina, the mother of 60-year-old Tokarev. Later, after an appeal filed by the believers, the authorities changed their minds about arresting the garden, but the apartment in which Anatoly's mother lives remained under arrest. Then an appeal was filed with the Kirov Regional Court.

The Kirov Regional Court, considering the appeal of Anatoly Tokarev, made the following conclusion: the seizure of property in order to ensure the payment of a fine as a punishment under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code in the future is not provided for by law. The court pointed out that a fine is only one of the possible main penalties under this article. Since a fine is one of the main types of punishment, in case of non-compliance, it can be (in accordance with Part 5 of Article 46 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) replaced by another type of punishment other than imprisonment. The possibility of such a substitution in itself guarantees its payment and the interests of criminal proceedings. As a result, the court decided to lift the arrest from the apartment of Anatoly Tokarev.

The threat of seizure of real estate is nothing more than pressure on believers who refuse to make a deal with the investigation. Back in May 2019, law enforcement officers threatened Anatoliy with problems for his relatives.

Anatoly Tokarev and his family are not the only Kirov residents who have faced problems because of their religion. After a series of searches in Kirov, criminal cases were opened against at least 11 Jehovah's Witnesses. Polish citizen Andrzej Oniszczuk spent 330 days in jail.