"Discussing the Bible is not an extremism." The court, instead of sentencing believer Barmakina, returned the case to the prosecutor

As a result of prosecutorial inconsistencies, Judge Olga Barabash unexpectedly returned the criminal case of a Vladivostok believer to the prosecutor. This occurred on September 29, 2020, after the defendant's concluding remarks were heard in court. The prosecutor requested a three-year suspended sentence for faith.

A criminal case is usually returned to the prosecutor's office in connection with violations in the accusation that cannot be eliminated during the trial. The decision to return the case of Elena Barmakina notes that "from the text of the indictment it is not possible to establish the extremist orientation of the defendant's actions in her cult activities: in reading and discussing texts from the Bible ... participating in the performance of religious chants and prayers, and watching video sermons, despite the fact that freedom of religion is a constitutional right. [...] The event of the crime in the plot of the prosecution is not described specifically, in the opinion of the court, this circumstance indicates non-compliance with the requirements of paragraph 3 of part 1 of article 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, since it is not possible to establish what specific actions prohibited by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, where, when, in what way the defendant committed, which is essential for resolving the criminal case on the merits of the charge.

The persecution of Yelena Barmakina began more than 2 years ago. In the early morning of July 2018, a group of masked armed security forces invaded her 90-year-old grandmother's apartment. Elena and her husband, Dmitry, both believers, were also in the apartment. Dmitriy was taken away in handcuffs and imprisoned in a pre-trial detention center for 447 days. A year later, the case was initiated against Elena herself. She was found guilty of extremism because of her religion, charged, and her bank accounts were blocked. All this had a noticeable impact on the financial well-being and health of the family.

On the eve of the return of the case to the prosecutor, not yet aware of the upcoming court ruling, Yelena Barmakina said in her last word: "I am happy that I am not suffering for crimes. I didn't steal, I didn't kill, I didn't blackmail anyone, I'm not a fraud. I suffer because I worship God. Of course, it does not surprise me that such events occur, but it sometimes surprises others. Why persecute Jehovah's Witnesses who do not take up arms at the cost of their lives and freedom? History shows that they never had a confrontation with either the Stalinist regime, or the Nazi regime, or the authorities of any other country. The attack has always been one-sided, and an attack on a group of obedient to the authorities, truly religious, fundamentally peace-loving people.

The decision to return the case to the prosecutor's office has not entered into force, it can be appealed to the Primorsky Regional Court.