Inside Penal Colonies and Detention Centers

The Court Keeps an Elderly Believer From Maykop in a Detention Center for Months. Behind Bars Nikolay Voishchev cannot receive proper treatment

Adygea

On January 17, 2023, the Maykop City Court refused to release from custody Nikolay Voishchev, a 67-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Maykop, where he has been held for more than 3 months only because of his faith as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. He will stay in the detention center for at least another six months, despite his being diagnosed with an illness.

The judge ignored Nikolay's age, as well as the need for urgent re-diagnosis and emergency treatment, even though the defense provided the court with all the necessary medical documents. According to the treatment plan, the believer should have had a tumor assessed back in October. But instead, the believer is forced to be in a cramped cold cell without proper medical care, while his illness worsens.

In a recent decision, the ECHR ordered Russia to “take all necessary measures to secure the discontinuation of all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah’s Witnesses ... and release of all Jehovah’s Witnesses who have been deprived of their liberty” (§ 290).

The Case of Voishchev in Maykop

Case History
In October 2022, an investigator of the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case for extremism against Nikolay Voishchev, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Maykop. The investigation interpreted discussing the Bible with fellow believers via video link as extremist activity. Although seriously ill, he ended up in pretrial detention only because of his faith. The case went to court in December 2022. The case involved the testimony of two secret witnesses and an expert study that the defense considers unscientific. The believer was sentenced to 3 years in a penal colony in September 2023.
Timeline

Persons in case

Voishchev
Nikolay

Criminal case

Region:
Adygea
Locality:
Maykop
Suspected of:
"organized and conducted secret meetings together with other members and followers of the religious movement of Jehovah's Witnesses, through personal communication, telephone conversations and the internet" (from the decision to charge)
Court case number:
12202790010000033
Initiated:
October 19, 2022
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Republic of Adygea
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-163/2023 (1-801/2022)
Court of First Instance:
Maykop City Court of the Republic of Adygea
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Zaubriy Birzhev
Case History
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