Evgeny Spirin

Evgeny Spirin

Evgeny Spirin

Criminal Investigation and Trial

In Furmanov, the court released the believer from house arrest despite the insistence of the investigator

Ivanovo Region

On December 18, 2019, Larisa Zubova, judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Ivanovo, decided to release Yevgeny Spirin from house arrest, which lasted 167 days (before that he spent 160 days in a pre-trial detention center). No other preventive measures have been imposed.

The court decided to release Yevgeny Spirin, despite the investigator's request to extend his house arrest for another month. Among the reasons for her decision, Judge Zubova indicated information about the personality of Spirin and the absence of violations of the house arrest regime.

A criminal case against Yevgeny Spirin was initiated on January 21, 2019, 6 days later he was arrested and sent to a pre-trial detention center, where he spent 160 days, after which he was transferred to house arrest. The believer is charged with organizing the activities of an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Yevgeniy Spirin became the sixth Jehovah's Witness in the Ivanovo region persecuted for his faith. Five more believers are under investigation in nearby Shuya. Among them is Dmitry Mikhailov, whose arrest was declared illegal by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. A similar ruling was made a few months later in the case of Vladimir Alushkin from Penza, and applies to all similar cases of arrest for his faith.

Law enforcers mistakenly mistake citizens' religion for participation in the activities of an extremist organization. Prominent public figures of Russia, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, as well as the President of the Russian Federation himself drew attention to this problem. Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to do with extremism and insist on their complete innocence. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that the decisions of the Russian courts on the liquidation and prohibition of organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teachings individually."

Case of Spirin in Furmanov

Case History
After a series of searches in January 2019 in the city of Furmanov, local resident Yevgeny Spirin was interrogated and sent to a pre-trial detention center for 5 months. The FSB in the Ivanovo region accused him of resuming the activities of a banned organization, although Spirin did not harm anyone, but simply professed his faith. During the court hearings, numerous fabrications of “evidence” of Spirin’s guilt were revealed. Thus, an expert handwriting expert revealed a falsification of the search protocol. A neighbor of the Spirins told the court that she did not give a negative characterization to Yevgeniy, who appears in the case. And the prosecution witness turned out to be an embedded retired law enforcement officer. Nevertheless, in 2020, the court sentenced him to a fine of 700,000 rubles, although, taking into account the time spent by Spirin in custody, the amount payable is 500,000 rubles. The verdict has entered into force.
Timeline

Persons in case

Spirin
Yevgeniy

Criminal case

Region:
Ivanovo Region
Locality:
Furmanov
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, together with others he conducted religious services, which is interpreted as organising the activity of an extremist organisation (with reference to the decision of the Russian Supreme Court on the liquidation of all 396 registered organisations of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11907240001000003
Initiated:
January 21, 2019
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate of Russia for the Ivanovo Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court:
Furmanov City Court of the Ivanovo Region
Case History
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