Unjust Verdicts

Sergey Melnikov's Primorye Appeal Was Upheld: A Three-Year Suspended Sentence for Practicing His Faith in Jehovah God

Primorye Territory

On May 12, 2022, the Primorye Regional Court of Vladivostok upheld the conviction of 49-year-old Sergey Melnikov for continuing to attend Jehovah's Witnesses’ services and discussing the Bible with residents of Ussuriysk.

The verdict has entered into force. The believer still insists on his innocence and has the right to appeal against it in cassation.

Sergey Melnikov has been subjected to criminal prosecution for more than two years, which began in June 2019. He was detained in his own car during a conversation with agent provocateur Konstantin Belousov, who collaborated with the FSB. He asked Melnikov questions about the Bible and made audio recordings of their conversations. At the same time, in his testimony in court, Belousov admitted that the believer had not forced him to talk about the Bible or encouraged him to join Jehovah's Witnesses. Despite this, Melnikov was searched and arrested, spent 122 days in a pre-trial detention center and 145 days under house arrest, and since February 2021 he has been under recognizance agreement.

During the hearings in the first instance court, the prosecutor requested a 4-year suspended sentence. On February 3, 2022, the judge of the Ussuriysk District Court of Primorye Territory, Dmitry Babushkin, passed a suspended sentence of 3 years with a probationary period of 2 years and 8 months of restriction of liberty.

In Primorye, 39 believers have already been prosecuted. Six of them have been sentenced.

Russian human rights activists consider the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses groundless. Olga Sibireva, an expert from the SOVA Human Rights Center, draws attention to the absence of any facts confirming the accusations of Jehovah's Witnesses of extremism. In her opinion, “there are no calls for terrorism and something like that, because Jehovah’s Witnesses are a completely peaceful doctrine.”

Case of Melnikov in Ussuriysk

Case History
Intelligence officers gained access to telephone conversations of Sergey Melnikov from Ussuriysk, which he conducted from April to June 2018. Later, they introduced agent provocateur Konstantin Belousov, who asked Sergey to tell him about the Bible. In June 2019, the believer was detained in his own car. Investigator E. S. Marvanyuk charged him with organizing the activities of an extremist organization, and later investigator V. V. Golsky reclassified the charge to participation in the activities of an extremist organization. The believer spent 122 days in a pre-trial detention center, 145 days under house arrest and then was placed under recognizance agreement. The prosecutor returned the case for further investigation. In the summer of 2020, the case was submitted to the Ussuriysk District Court of Primorsky Krai. On February 3, 2022, Judge Dmitry Babushkin sentenced Sergey Melnikov to 3 years of suspended sentence. The appellate court upheld this verdict in May 2022. In December of the same year, the Court of Cassation of Ussuriysk upheld the verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Melnikov
Sergey

Criminal case

Region:
Primorye Territory
Locality:
Ussuriysk
Suspected of:
According to the investigation he “took steps to organize the recruitment of new members aimed at continuing the illegal activities of the banned religious organization ‘Jehovah's Witnesses Administrative Center in Russia’” (with reference to the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the liquidation of the religious organization “Jehovah's Witnesses Administrative Center in Russia” and its structural divisions)
Court case number:
11902050010000039
Initiated:
June 5, 2019
Current case stage:
The verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigation Department for Ussuriysk city of the Investigation Administration of the IC of Russia for Primorye Territory
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-27/2021 (1-510/2020)
Court:
Уссурийский районный суд Приморского края
Judge:
Дмитрий Бабушкин
Case History