In Krasnoyarsk, Yevgeniy Zinich, a Descendant of Jehovah's Witnesses Who Were Repressed in Soviet Times, Was Sentenced to Six Years in Penal Colony

On June 27, 2022, Nataliya Nikolayeva, judge of the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Krasnoyarsk, sentenced Jehovah's Witness Yevgeniy Zinich to 6 years in penal colony because he did not renounce his faith in Jehovah God after the confession's Russian legal entities were banned in 2017. The believer was taken into custody in the courtroom.

Yevgeniy Zinich, 56, is a third-generation Jehovah's Witness. His family had already been subjected to religious repression by the authorities: for refusing to take up arms for religious reasons, his grandfather received a 5-year prison term, in 1951, Yevgeniy’s mother and her parents were exiled to Khakassia as part of Operation “North”, and his father was sentenced to 10 years for transporting religious literature. The family of Yevgeniy’s wife, Mariya, also faced a similar situation. During the criminal prosecution of Yevgeniy, his wife, a disabled person of group II, died of a serious illness. The believer takes care of his elderly mother.

“The wife did not wait for my acquittal. The experiences caused by my criminal prosecution, according to the doctors, became one of the reasons for her premature death, — said Yevgeniy Zinich in his last plea. — My mother, who is already 83 years old, would also very much like to live to see the time when I, her son, will be acquitted. She is very upset that so many people in power do not want to admit the obvious — my faith excludes extremism — and make great efforts to try to prove the opposite”.

Zinich came to the attention of law enforcement agencies in November 2018, then in Krasnoyarsk for the first time there were mass searches of believers. Initially, Yevgeniy was a witness in the case against another believer, Andrey Stupnikov, but over time he himself was accused of organizing “illegal activities of Jehovah's Witnesses.” In December 2020, the couple's apartment was searched. Since October 2021, Yevgeniy has been under house arrest. Investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia Konstantin Zhuikov investigated the case for 9 months. After that, on November 1, 2021, the case was submitted to the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Krasnoyarsk, where it was heard for about 8 months.

The decision of the court has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on his complete innocence: “The arguments that all my actions have nothing to do with the alleged crime, but are only the realization of my rights to religious life, guaranteed to me by the legislation of the Russian Federation, my lawyer and I presented in detail to the court. I'm sure they are more than convincing."

In total, 27 Jehovah's Witnesses, who are defendants in 18 criminal cases, faced criminal prosecution in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Five believers have already been convicted.

According to the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of October 28, 2021, worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint performance of rites and ceremonies do not in themselves constitute a crime. Liquidation of legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses in this case is not a basis for criminal prosecution of individual believers.