Residents of Gukovo convicted for their faith talking to a group of supporters via video link. January 2023

Residents of Gukovo convicted for their faith talking to a group of supporters via video link. January 2023

Residents of Gukovo convicted for their faith talking to a group of supporters via video link. January 2023

Unjust Verdicts

Court of Cassation in Krasnodar Confirmed Verdict Against Six Jehovah's Witnesses From Gukovo: from 6.5 to 7 years in a Penal Colony

Rostov Region,   Krasnodar Territory,   Lipetsk Region,   Ulyanovsk Region

On July 25, 2023 the panel of Judges of the Fourth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction, chaired by Igor Konyaev, upheld the verdict and its appeal decision against six believers from Gukovo. All of them are already serving their terms in penal colonies.

Aleksey Goreliy, Oleg Shidlovskiy, Nikita Moiseyev, Aleksey Dyadkin, Vladimir Popov and Yevgeniy Razumov were sentenced to 6.5 to 7 years imprisonment. This harsh sentence against Jehovah's Witnesses was handed down by Judge Natalya Batura of the Gukovo City Court in September 2022. The believers ended up behind bars in August 2020, immediately after investigators initiated a criminal case against them and searched their homes.

The court of appeal upheld the verdict of the court of first instance and the believers filed an appeal with the court of cassation. It says: “Law enforcement agencies have not established a single fact of illegal activity committed by the believers. Even... [during surveillance] nothing was recorded to assert that... Jehovah's Witnesses commit or call for illegal acts. Also, not a single person has been identified who suffered from the activity of the believers.”

The defense reminded the court of thedecision of the Plenum of the RF Supreme Court, in which it confirmed that the actions of Jehovah's Witnesses consisting solely in the exercise of their right to freedom of religion, do not constitute a crime. The court ignored the arguments of the believers and their lawyers.

The estimated date of release from the penal colony of Oleg Shidlovskiy and Aleksey Goreliy is November 2025. The rest of the believers should be released in May-June of 2026.

The Case of Moiseyev and Others in Gukovo

Case History
In August 2020 law enforcement officers conducted searches in the homes of residents of Gukovo. The Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Aleksey Dyadkin, Vladimir Popov, Yevgeniy Razumov, Aleksey Goreliy, Nikita Moiseyev and Oleg Shidlovskiy. These peaceful believers were charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization. Their crime, according to the investigators, is that they “prayed and sang songs to Jehovah God.” Since August 2020 all six have been in pretrial detention. As it later became known, an undercover FSB agent had been watching the believers for a long time. In November 2021 the case went to court. The testimonies of religious scholars questioned, confirmed that these men were tried only for their peaceful religious actions. In September 2022 the court sentenced Goreliy and Shidlovskiy to 6.5 years in a penal colony, while the rest of the believers were sentenced to 7 years. In January of 2023 the court of appeal upheld the verdict, and then 6 months later the court of cassation confirmed it.
Timeline

Persons in case

Dyadkin
Aleksey
Goreliy
Aleksey
Moiseyev
Nikita
Popov
Vladimir
Razumov
Yevgeniy
Shidlovskiy
Oleg

Criminal case

Region:
Rostov Region
Locality:
Gukovo
Suspected of:
According to the investigation, "they convened meetings of fellow believers, prayed and sang songs to Jehovah God."
Court case number:
12002600001000874
Initiated:
August 7, 2020
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department for Especially Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Rostov Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-20/2022 (1-710/2021)
Court:
Gukovo City Court of the Rostov Region
Judge:
Natalya Batura
Case History
Back to top