Defendants with their families and friends shortly before the verdict was announced (Saransk, August 2022)

Defendants with their families and friends shortly before the verdict was announced (Saransk, August 2022)

Defendants with their families and friends shortly before the verdict was announced (Saransk, August 2022)

Unjust Verdicts

The Appeal Court Upheld the Verdict Against Six Believers From Saransk. They Will Spend 2 to 6 Years in a Penal Colony

Mordovia

On January 16, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Mordovia upheld the sentence of six Jehovah's Witnesses from Saransk: 6 years imprisonment for Atryakhin, 4 years and 2 months in a penal colony for the Nikulins, and 2 years imprisonment for Shevchuk, Korolev, and Antonov.

The believers participated in the hearing via video conference while in the Detention Center No. 1 in Saransk, where they were placed after the verdict of the court of first instance. February 2023 will be exactly 4 years since the criminal prosecution of Aleksandr Shevchuk and his fellow believers began. Despite the decision of the court of appeal, all six continue to insist on their innocence and intend to defend their good name in the court of cassation.

In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights unequivocally sided with Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The ruling states, among other things, that “the forced liquidation of all religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Federation ... has revealed signs of a policy of intolerance regarding the religious activities of Jehovah's Witnesses on the part of the Russian authorities, aimed at forcing Jehovah's Witnesses to abandon their faith and prevent others from joining it” (§254).

The Case of Shevchuk and Others in Saransk

Case History
In February 2019, in Saransk, the FSB initiated a criminal case against three believers on suspicion of extremism. After mass searches, Vladimir Atryakhin, father of two young children, as well as Aleksandr Shevchuk and Georgiy Nikulin ended up in a pretrial detention center, where they spent between 2 and 5 months. Later, three more defendants appeared in the case — Aleksandr Korolev, Elena Nikulina and Denis Antonov. The case went to court in May 2021. The defense managed to show the court several times that the unveiled secret witness, Vlasov, was giving false testimony. In August 2022, the believers were convicted: Vladimir Atryakhin was sentenced to 6 years, Georgiy and Yelena Nikulin — 4 years and 2 months, and Aleksandr Shevchuk, Aleksandr Korolev and Denis Antonov — 2 years in a penal colony. The court of appeal upheld the verdict. In November 2023, Shevchuk was released from the penal colony, and in June 2024, Korolev and Antonov were released.
Timeline

Persons in case

Korolev
Aleksandr
Antonov
Denis
Atrуakhin
Vladimir
Nikulin
Georgiy
Nikulina
Elena
Shevchuk
Aleksandr

Criminal case

Region:
Mordovia
Locality:
Saransk
Suspected of:
they "disseminated ideology and belief among the citizens of the Republic of Mordovia... by conducting conversations with citizens of Saransk in public and in residential buildings" which is interpreted as "organising the activity of an extremist organisation"
Court case number:
11907890001000003
Initiated:
February 4, 2019
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate for the Republic of Mordovia
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2), 282.2 (1), 282.2 (1.1)
Court case number:
1-13/2022 (1-216/2021)
Court:
Leninskiy District Court of the City of Saransk
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Yelena Simonova
Case History
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