A Second Appeal in the City of Chelyabinsk Shortened the Sentence of 71-Year-Old Lyudmila Salikova. The Court Reduced the Believer's Suspended Sentence From Six to Two and a Half Year

On March 23, 2023, Lyudmila Salikova reappeared before the Chelyabinsk Regional Court, which changed her sentence, reclassifying the charge from organizing the activities of an extremist organization to participating in it, and reduced her suspended sentence to two and a half years with a probationary term of three years.

Lyudmila Salikova from Snezhinsk has been prosecuted for her faith since the fall of 2020. She was taken to court for "participating in the religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses and having discussions about the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses." These actions, according to the investigation, constituted organizing the activities of an extremist organization. In January 2022, Lyudmila Salikova was convicted and given a six-year suspended sentence, and the appellate court upheld this decision.

The believer does not admit her guilt and considers the criminal prosecution a miscarriage of justice. The court of cassation did not reverse the guilty verdict, but it did note that the appellate court "avoided an objective, fair and comprehensive review of the legality and validity of the verdict." According to the cassation court, “an improper assessment by the appellate court of the arguments of the appeal may affect the correct application of criminal law . . . and, as a result, the sentence.” In January 2023, the case was returned to the appellate stage.

Representatives of the Russian and foreign public unanimously condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. In particular, David Bunikovsky, a visiting scholar of the School of Theology at East Finland University and a fellow at the Center for Law and Religion at the Cardiff School of Law and Politics called the persecution of believers inhumane and in opposition to human dignity. “It is contrary to international law (Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights) and the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 28), which guarantee freedom of religion, and it is contrary to common sense. Even the elderly are put in prison. For what? For singing songs, studying the Bible and praying together in private homes,” said Bunikowski.