The Cassation Court Did Not Change the Sentence of Five of  Jehovah's Witnesses From Kursk. One of Them Is Still Serving a Sentence in a Penal Colony

On January 12, 2023, the First Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Saratov left unchanged the verdict of the Promyshlennyy District Court of the city of Kursk and the appellate ruling of the Judicial Panel for Criminal Cases of the Kursk Regional Court against five of Jehovah's Witnesses.

In June 2021 the court of first instance handed down severe sentences of imprisonment to four believers for practicing their religion. The appellate courtupheldthe sentence. At the time of the cassation appeal, three convicted persons—the Bagratyan couple and Ryshkov—had already served their sentences (Artem Bagratyan—two and a half years; Alevtina Bagratyan—two years; Andrey Ryshkov—three years), but they wanted to get a just ruling and restore their good reputation. Andrey Andreyev was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, and he is still behind bars. He is expected to be released in February 2023.

In 2019, the believers in Kursk experienced mass searches of their homes. Andrey Andreyev, whose home was invaded by security forces, described these events: “They found the Bible as if it were a weapon used in a crime, as if [it were] drugs or something, they took away my children's postcards. It's interesting that the protocol of seized items contains a postcard with the inscription: “Dear mommy.”

Andrey Andreyev, Aleksandr Vospitanyuk, Andrey Ryshkov, Artem Bagratyan and his wife, Alevtina, all pleaded not guilty and believe that they were exercising their constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religion and that their actions were exclusively peaceful.

In his cassation appeal, Andrey Ryshkov noted: "As a Christian, as one of Jehovah's Witness, I studied the Bible, prayed to Jehovah God and sang religious songs with my fellow believers. This served as the basis for initiating a criminal case against me and finding me guilty.”

The Bagratyans expressed a similar thought: “A peaceful conversation about God without calls for violence, discrimination and degrading treatment . . . to any kind of social group cannot have such a degree of public danger that would require peaceful citizens to be convicted for committing an extremist crime."

The cassation court slightly changed the part of the verdict regarding the additional punishment—in accordance with the decision of a higher court, the convicted person still can use the Internet but cannot post religious information.

The international community strongly condemns the actions of the Russian authorities in their persecution of law-abiding believers. The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 7 June 2022 declares that “the respondent State [Russian Federation] must take all necessary measures to secure the discontinuation of all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah’s Witnesses, including by reference to the recently amended guidance by the Supreme Court of Russia, and release of all Jehovah's Witnesses who have been deprived of their liberty.” (§ 290)