In the photo: Semyon Baibak after the verdict. Rostov-on-Don. 21 December 2020

In the photo: Semyon Baibak after the verdict. Rostov-on-Don. 21 December 2020

In the photo: Semyon Baibak after the verdict. Rostov-on-Don. 21 December 2020

Unjust Verdicts

Another verdict for practicing faith: a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence for the 23-year-old Rostov-on-Don-based Semyon Baybak

Rostov Region

A conscientious objector, whose faith does not allow him to take up arms, was convicted under "extremist" articles 282.2 and 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Vladimir Barvin, a Leninskiy District Court judge, issued the verdict on December 21, 2020. Several days earlier, the same court handed down a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence to another Jehovah's Witness, Ruslan Alyyev.

Semyon Baybak was sentenced to 3.5 years suspended imprisonment with a probation period of 4.5 years, 1-year restriction of freedom, namely: it is forbidden to leave home from 22:00 to 6:00, it is forbidden to visit institutions where alcoholic drinks are sold, it is forbidden to leave Rostov-on-Don, change the place of residence and work, it is ordered to come twice a month to a supervisory body for registration. The believer was immediately released from the measure of restraint in the form of house arrest.

Another 14 law-abiding residents of Rostov-on-Don are currently prosecuted under a similar scheme. The investigation interprets the unprohibited observance of religious rules — reading the Bible, praying, singing, and Biblical conversations — as participation in the activities of an organization banned by a court in Moscow in 2017.

On December 18, 2020, addressing the court with his last word, Semyon Baibak said: "I am not the first Jehovah's Witness in this court and, unfortunately, not the last. My other co-religionists will be here for some time yet... Jehovah's Witnesses in general, as a religion, are absolutely alien to extremism in all its manifestations. Let me give you an example from history. Bergen-Belsen, Bohr, Buchenwald, Wevelsburg, Gros Rosen, Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Lichtenburg, Majdanek, Mauthausen, Mittelbau-Dora, Niederhagen, Neuengamm, Oswiecim, Ravensbrück, Stutthof, Esterwegen... These are all names of Nazi concentration camps. The Jehovah's Witnesses, a group of people marked with a purple triangle patch on their uniforms, were held . . . in each of them. Sent to these terrible places for their religious beliefs, for refusing to say "Heil Hitler!" and for refusing to participate in that war. So why did they refuse? The Bible calls, "As far as possible on your part, be at peace with all men." For Jehovah's Witnesses, these are not just words. It is a directive from God that we honor sacredly."

Semyon Baibak did not admit his guilt of participating in an extremist organization. He considers his criminal case to be nothing but religious persecution. At the same time, he told the court: "I don't feel depressed or hate that such things touched me as well. But I intend to prove my innocence to the very end. I would like to end with a passage from the Bible that I like very much: "We are constrained in every way, but not driven into a corner; we are confused, but our situation is not hopeless; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; subverted, but not destroyed.

Case of Baybak in Rostov-on-Don

Case History
Semyon Baibak from Rostov-on-Don spent more than 1.5 years under house arrest. The criminal case against the 22-year-old believer has been under investigation since June 2019. Investigator Kalnitsky accused him of participating in and financing extremist activities. According to investigators, Semyon participated in religious meetings, made donations, and talked about God with those who were not Jehovah’s Witnesses. The believer spent a day in a temporary detention center, after which the court sent him under house arrest. Court hearings began in September 2020. It took the judge three months to consider the criminal case of Semyon Baibak. The prosecutor requested a sentence of 4 years of suspended imprisonment and 5 years of probation. On June 21, 2020, the Leninskiy District Court found him guilty under both articles and sentenced him to 3.5 years of suspended imprisonment with a probation period of 4.5 years. The appeal and cassation upheld the verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Rostov Region
Locality:
Rostov-on-Don
Suspected of:
According to the investigation he participated in religious meetings, including services; made donations; engaged in campaigning among non-followers of the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses
Court case number:
11902007712000038
Initiated:
June 6, 2019
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
First Investigation Department (with deployment in Rostov-on-Don) of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2), 282.3 (1)
Court case number:
1-325/2020
Court:
Ленинский районный суд
Case History