Court of Appeal in Krasnoyarsk Upheld the Verdict against 56-year-old Yevgeniy Zinich. He Is Sentenced to 6 Years in a Penal Colony for His Belief

On January 19, 2022, the Judicial Chamber for Criminal Cases of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court upheld the verdict against Yevgeniy Zinich—6 years in a penal colony for reading the Bible. The believer still insists on his innocence and can appeal the verdict through the cassation process.

In addition to the term in the penal colony, Zinich is deprived of the right to engage in the organizational activity in public associations and religious organizations for 2 years and his freedom is limited for a year. After the verdict was announced, Yevgeniy spent six months in a pre-trial detention center, awaiting an appeal.

Yevgeniy Zinich and his lawyer sent two appeals to the regional court, in which they drew attention to the procedural and logical errors made by the court of first instance. Thus, the description of the “extremist motives” of the believer in the verdict was limited to general phrases, and the testimony of witnesses and experts proved only Zinich’s religious affiliation, which he did not hide. At the same time, there are no victims in the case, and it is not indicated what specific socially dangerous consequences the actions of the defendant led to.

The position of the Russian courts regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses contradicts the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the liquidation of legal entities and the clarifications of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Even if a religious association is recognized as extremist, believers have a right to continue to enjoy the right to freedom of religion both individually and jointly, as well as to hold services and other religious rites, if they do not contain signs of extremism.

A total of 28 Jehovah's Witnesses faced criminal prosecution in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Among them, eight believers have already been convicted, two are serving terms in penal colonies.

Yevgeniy Zinich is one of the Jehovah's Witnesses who defended the right to freely practice his faith in the ECHR. In a recent decision, the European Court fully acquitted Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. It states: “Under the European Convention, states are not empowered to decide which beliefs may or may not be taught, since the right to freedom of religion guaranteed by the European Convention excludes any discretion on the part of the State to determine the legitimacy of religious beliefs. or the means used to express them” (§165).