In the photo: Evgeny Egorov with his wife

In the photo: Evgeny Egorov with his wife

In the photo: Evgeny Egorov with his wife

Criminal trial

A Second Appeal in Birobidzhan Returned the Case of Yevgeniy Yegorov for a New Trial

Jewish Autonomous Area

On October 3, 2022, the Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region, chaired by Dmitriy Dobrobabin, considered Yevgeniy Yegorov’s appeal against the verdict and decided to return the criminal case for a new trial to the Birobidzhanskiy District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region.

Speaking with his last word in the court of appeal, the believer said: "Four years of criminal prosecution undermined my emotional and physical health, I acquired an incurable disease, with which I now need to somehow survive. How else have I been hurt? Instead of devoting time to caring for my family and raising my little son, I am forced to defend my violated honor and restore my good name."

Yevgeniy Yegorov was convicted in June 2021 for meetings with fellow believers. In November of the same year, the appeal left the sentence unchanged—2.5 years of suspended sentence. However, later the Ninth Cassation Court in Vladivostok sent the case back for a second appeal, which now, in turn, initiated a new trial of the case.

Similar criminal cases have been opened in the Jewish Autonomous Region against 23 Jehovah's Witnesses, and 18 believers have already been sentenced.

Case of Yegorov in Birobidzhan

Case History
Yevgeniy Yegorov is an aspiring writer from Birobidzhan who, because of being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was accused by the FSB of participating in extremist activities. In May 2018, security forces raided the home where he and his mother lived, and a year later, they initiated a criminal case against him. While under investigation, Yevgeniy got married, but due to a recognizance agreement, he was forced to cancel the honeymoon trip. Also, the young man was included on the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists. The court considered his case for a year and a half and finally gave him a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence in June 2021. This decision was upheld by the appellate court, but the cassation court returned the case to the regional court, which, in turn, sent the case back to the first instance court. Upon reconsideration, the position of the courts did not change—the suspended sentence of two and a half years entered into force in April 2023 after a second appeal.
Timeline

Persons in case

Yegorov
Yevgeniy

Criminal case

Region:
Jewish Autonomous Area
Locality:
Birobidzhan
Suspected of:
According to the investigation, “in order to extend the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses by improving the skills of preaching and other religious activities, they studied ... the publication of Jehovah's Witnesses ‘The Holy Scriptures / New World Translation’, recognized as extremist”
Court case number:
11907990001000007
Initiated:
July 29, 2019
Current case stage:
The verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Russian Federal Security Office for Jewish Autonomous Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-38/2023 (1-717/2022; 1-11/2021; 1-48/2020; 1-624/2019)
Court of First Instance:
Биробиджанский районный суд Еврейской автономной области
[i18n] Судья первой инстанции:
Станислав Ушаков (судья первой инстанции на повторном рассмотрении)
Case History