An Appeal in the Vologda Region Resulted in a More Lenient Sentence for One of the Convicted Jehovah's Witnesses

On November 10, 2022, the Vologda Regional Court reviewed the sentence imposed on Nikolay Stepanov for conducting religious meetings. Four years in a penal colony were replaced with a suspended sentence. Another person involved in the case is Yuriy Baranov. His 4-year suspended sentence remains unchanged.

In December 2019, when a massive raid of the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Vologda was conducted, Stepanov and Baranov became targets of criminal prosecution. On September 5, 2022, the court of first instance issued a guilty verdict, which the believers appealed.

During the preliminary investigation, Nikolay Stepanov spent 8 months in a detention center. After the verdict of the court of first instance was announced, the believer was again placed in detention, where he participated in the appeal hearings via video conference. According to Nikolay's lawyer, for some time the peaceful believer was held in custody together with criminal gang leaders and with a man who is on trial for murder. Stepanov should be released soon.

Yuriy Baranov spent 3 months under house arrest. Now that he has a suspended sentence, he is under a recognizance agreement.

Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses, commented on the situation: “Despite the seemingly lenient sentence imposed by the court of appeal, the believers were still found guilty of extremism, even though they did not commit any crimes. They simply did what the early Christians did—they discussed the Holy Scriptures and prayed together. The verdict has entered into force, but Nikolay and Yuriy have the right to appeal it in cassation and international courts.”