Illustrative photo

Illustrative photo

Illustrative photo

Actions of Law Enforcement Officers

New Searches in the Sverdlovsk Region. Criminal Proceedings Initiated Against Three Believer

Sverdlovsk Region

On the morning of April 14, 2023, in the settlements of Lesnoy, Kachkanar and Tayozhny (Sverdlovsk Region), searches were carried out at 5 addresses of believers, including 58-year-old Andrey Bannykh. Earlier, a criminal case was initiated against him as well as Pavel Loshchinin and Andrey Kozhushko, for their faith.

Pavel Loshchinin in his appeal against the decision to initiate a criminal case stated: “The descriptive and motivating part of the resolution contains absolutely no specific argumentation, and there are clearly contradictory arguments... Following religious teaching and studying religious literature is not a crime in itself”.

Another suspect in the case, Andrey Bannykh, is one of the applicants whose appeal was granted by the ECHR, declaring the prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia illegal. The Court held that “respondent State must take all necessary measures to secure the discontinuation of all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah’s Witnesses” (§ 290).

The Case of Kozhushko and Others in Lesnoy

Case History
In March 2023, a criminal case was initiated against peaceful citizens in the city of Lesnoy, Pavel Loshchinin and Andrey Bannykh, as well as Andrey Kozhushko, a disabled person living in the village of Taezhnyy. The believers were accused of “organizing the study of extremist materials and other religious literature” because they discussed the Bible together. In April, officers of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation conducted searches at 6 addresses of Jehovah’s Witnesses as part of this case. Andrey Bannykh is one of the believers whose complaint was satisfied by the ECHR, declaring the prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia unlawful. In May 2024, the case went to court. It involved secret witnesses. The prosecutor requested 7 years imprisonment for the defendants. In November 2024, the court gave them a 6-year suspended sentence.
Timeline

Persons in case

Bannykh
Andrey
Kozhushko
Andrey
Loshchinin
Pavel

Criminal case

Region:
Sverdlovsk Region
Locality:
Lesnoy
Suspected of:
"By videoconferencing... carried out meetings for worship, public study and discussion of literature, videos and illustrations"
Court case number:
12302650029000012
Initiated:
March 28, 2023
Current case stage:
verdict did not take effect
Investigating:
Investigative Department for the Closed City of Lesnoy of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Sverdlovsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-57/2024
Court of First Instance:
Lesnoy City Court of the Sverdlovsk Region
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Lyudmila Yerzikova
Case History
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