Criminal trial

Cassation Sent the Case of 71-year-old Lyudmila Salikova, for a New Appeal

Chelyabinsk Region

On January 11, 2022, the Seventh Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Chelyabinsk overturned the appeal ruling against Lyudmila Salikova. An appeal against a verdict for the faith of a veteran of the nuclear industry and a veteran of labor will be considered by a different composition of the Court of Appeal.

“If the courts had correctly applied the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, they would have acquitted me,” Lyudmila told the court of cassation. “For communicating, reading and studying the Bible with my fellow believers, singing songs, praying, as well as telling others about my Bible-based beliefs, the investigation charged me with a crime.”

Here is how Lyudmila Salikova commented on the decisions of the courts against her and hundreds of other Jehovah's Witnesses, including the disabled and the elderly: “This criminal case is part of a large-scale campaign to suppress [followers of this religion] and has an ulterior motive – to silence me and my fellow believers, or for us to renounce our faith, and to punish me for my religious beliefs and openly expressing them.”

In a recent decision, the European Court reminded that convictions for extremism must be based “only on religious expressions and actions that contain or call for violence, hatred or discrimination” (§ 271). Despite this, the Russian authorities continue to persecute Jehovah's Witnesses for peaceful worship and discussions about the Bible.

Case of Salikova in Snezhinsk

Case History
Lyudmila Salikova, the leading engineer of the Snezhinsk Municipal Administration, had to resign due to criminal prosecution for her faith in Jehovah God. In November 2020, security forces came to her for a search, but the case was not immediately initiated. In August 2021, the investigator of the Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Chepenko, charged the believer with organizing the activities of an extremist organization and had her sign a recognizance agreement. The accusation was based on the testimony of a woman recruited by the FSB to make audio and video recordings of conversations with Salikova. In the fall of 2021, the case went to court. The prosecutor requested that the court sentence the believer to six and a half years in a penal colony. In January 2022, the court gave Lyudmila Salikova a six-year suspended sentence for professing her faith. The appellate court upheld this decision, but in January 2023, the cassation court returned the case to the appellate stage, which this time reduced the suspended sentence imposed on the believer to two and a half years.
Timeline

Persons in case

Salikova
Lyudmila

Criminal case

Region:
Chelyabinsk Region
Locality:
Snezhinsk
Suspected of:
According to the investigation, she "organized the activities of a religious organization ... imported and imported into the Russian Federation for subsequent illegal mass distribution of religious information materials included in the federal list of extremist materials".
Court case number:
12002750030000019
Initiated:
November 9, 2020
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-2/2022 (1-176/2021)
Judge:
Timofey Smoluk
Court:
Snezhinsk City Court of the Chelyabinsk Region
Court of Appeal:
Chelyabinsk Regional Court
Case History
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