The Court of Appeals Sentenced Anatoliy Gorbunov, a Retiree From Krasnoyarsk, to Serve a Six-Year Sentence in a Penal Colony

On June 21, 2022, a panel of judges of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court, chaired by Yuriy Tsybulya, upheld the decision of the lower court regarding Anatoliy Gorbunov, 64. The sentence for faith in Jehovah God — 6 years in a penal colony — came into force.

Hearings in the court of first instance lasted more than a year, all this time the believer was under a recognizance not to leave. After the verdict was announced, he spent more than four months in a pre-trial detention center awaiting an appeal.

There are no victims in the case of Anatoliy Gorbunov. The prosecution only proved that he belonged to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, while not presenting a single fact of extremist actions on the part of the defendant. The believer still insists on his innocence and can appeal the verdict on cassation.

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, 27 of Jehovah's Witnesses have already been prosecuted, including one woman, whose charges were dropped. Five other believers were sentenced to various types of punishment: two to six years in prison, one was fined, and two more received suspended sentences.

Addressing the court, Anatoliy Gorbunov recalled that the Supreme Court did not forbid Jehovah's Witnesses from practicing their faith — this is their right, enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.