Yevgeniy Spirin of Furmanov is sentenced to a heavy fine for meeting peacefully with fellow believers.

On July 28, 2020, the Furmanov City Court sentenced 34-year-old Yevgeniy Spirin a fine of 700,000 rubles, ruling that conversations with fellow-worshippers about God constitute extremism. Due to the time already spent in pre-trial and under house arrest, the amount to be paid is 500,000 rubles. The prosecutor has asked that he be sentenced to imprisonment for 7 years.

Although Yevgeniy does not agree with the verdict of conviction, he himself, his friends and relatives are happy that the punishment is not associated with imprisonment.

“If Jehovah’s Witnesses stop meeting together, how are they supposed to enjoy their Constitutional right to “profess their beliefs alone or jointly with others?”— asked Yevgeniy Spirin rhetorically, referring to Article 28 of the Russian Federation Constitution during his closing statement to the court.

Spirin pointed out that the Russian Federation Supreme Court did not ban the joint profession of the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He also stressed that his faith poses no threat to the government or society because “the Bible teaches us to do good deeds and never to resort to violence.” According to Yevgeniy, the fact that he refused to take up arms and instead performed non-military alternative service for a longer period proves that he holds to this peaceable civil position.

“During this court hearing the question has constantly been asked “Have you heard from Spirin statements calling for violent change to fundamental Constitutional order and to the violation of the integrity of the Russian Federation?” Everyone who was asked this by the court confirmed that they had never heard any [such statements].”

Yevgeniy Spirin informed the court that his arrest and the subsequent court hearings have had a serious detrimental effect on the health of members of his family and requested that the court acquit him.

Judge Yuriy Gnedin ignored these arguments and sentenced the Witness to a punishment of a fine of 700,000 rubles. Given the fact that Yevgeniy has already spent 160 days in pre-trial detention and 167 days under house arrest, the total amount of the fine to be paid is 500,000 rubles.

Yevgeniy Spirin was detained on January 27, 2019 after his apartment had been searched. On the following day the court sent him to a pre-trial detention facility, in which he spent almost 6 months. He spent about the same amount of time under house arrest before being freed in December 2019 without any further restrictions being imposed.