A Second Appeal in Rostov-on-Don Toughened the Sentence for Arsen Avanesov. Instead of 6.5 Years — 7 Years in a Penal Colony

Recently it became known that back on August 8, 2022, the Rostov Regional Court toughened the punishment for one of the three believers from Rostov , Arsen Avanesov, who was previously sentenced to 6.5 years in a penal colony, adding another six months to the term.

In June 2022, the court of cassation in Krasnodar upheld the verdict against Vilen Avanesov and Aleksandr Parkov, but satisfied the prosecutor’s request regarding Arsen. The believer was again charged with “financing extremist activity”, a charge that the court had previously excluded. Later the case of Arsen Avanesov returned to the stage of appeal, where his sentence was toughened.

The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 7 June 2022 states that “imposition of criminal sanctions for manifestation of religious beliefs amounts to an interference with the exercise of the right to freedom of religion under Article 9 § 1 of the [European] Convention” (264). Despite this, law enforcement officers in the Rostov Region and throughout Russia continue to sentence law-abiding citizens  for long terms for their faith.