On the day of the verdict, friends and acquaintances came to the courthouse to support Irina Mikhailenko (second from left). April 2023

On the day of the verdict, friends and acquaintances came to the courthouse to support Irina Mikhailenko (second from left). April 2023

On the day of the verdict, friends and acquaintances came to the courthouse to support Irina Mikhailenko (second from left). April 2023

Unjust Verdicts

Irina Mikhaylenko from Chelyabinsk Will Pay a Fine for Her Faith. "I'm On Trial Only Because I'm One of Jehovah's Witnesses"

Chelyabinsk Region

On April 25, 2023, Irina Mikhaylenko, 54, one of Jehovah's Witnesses from Chelyabinsk, was fined 120,000 rubles. The judge of the Metallurgicheskiy District Court, Lyudmila Blagodyr, considered that the believer should be held accountable simply for peacefully practicing her religion.

The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. Mikhailenko insists on her complete innocence. In her final statement, she said: “I did not commit any crimes. On the contrary, in this case my rights are violated — I am deprived of the guaranteed right to profess and spread my faith.”

In March 2019, Irina Mikhaylenko came under a wave of searches conducted as part of a criminal case against Valentina Suvorova. Two years later, she herself was suspected of participating in extremist activity: a second search was carried out in Mikhaylenko’s house. During 11 months the investigation was carried out by the third department for the Investigation of particularly important cases of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region. The investigation found that Irina Mikhaylenko was guilty of "directly participating and personally speaking at... religious meetings", singing songs and saying prayers. On July 29, 2022, the case went to court.

“Is there evidence of my extremism, that is, hatred, enmity, violence?”, asked the believer at one of the hearings. “There is neither any action nor a single phrase or word in the 20 volumes of the criminal case. Moreover, most of the documents in the case have nothing to do with me”. An examination requested by the investigator confirmed that there were no signs of inciting hostility or hatred in the materials received from the meetings of the believers. There are no victims or facts of illegal activity in the case.

The ruling of the ECHR regarding the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia states that “the right to manifest one’s religion “in community with others” has always been regarded as an essential part of the freedom of religion” (§ 268). Despite this, the persecution of believers continues. In the Chelyabinsk region, the sentences against 7 Jehovah's Witnesses have already entered into force.

The case of Mikhailenko in Chelyabinsk

Case History
Searches of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Chelyabinsk in 2019 changed the lives of dozens of believers. Among them is Irina Mikhailenko, director of a law firm. The believer was a witness in the case of Valentina Suvorova, but in 2021 she herself became a suspect of participating in extremist activities. Mikhailenko’s house was searched again. The Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region accused the believer of “directly participating in and personally speaking in … religious meetings”, singing songs and saying prayers. Mikhailenko was also accused of attending an international convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses in South Korea. In July 2022, the trial began. In April 2023, the court sentenced the believer to a fine of 120,000 rubles. The appellate court upheld the verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Chelyabinsk Region
Locality:
Chelyabinsk
Suspected of:
«... directly participated and personally spoke in religious meetings convened and organized by V. N. Suvorov" (from the decision to bring as an accused)
Court case number:
12102750030000024
Initiated:
August 31, 2021
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Third Department for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-16/2023
Court of First Instance:
Металлургический районный суд г. Челябинска
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Людмила Благодырь
Case History