Court of Cassation Did Not Change the Verdict Against Aleksandr Kalistratov. He Will Continue to Serve a 6.5-Year Suspended Sentence for his Faith in Jehovah God

On October 31, 2023, the Eighth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Kemerovo upheld the verdict against 47-year-old Aleksandr Kalistratov — a 6.5-year suspended sentence — for his faith.

Earlier, in 2010, the Supreme Court of the Altai Republic fully acquitted Kalistratov under Article 282 of the RF CrC. In April 2023, the same court upheld the guilty verdict for peaceful conversations about God. The believer maintained his innocence. In his cassation appeal, he stated: "My motive was not extremism, but the intention to exercise the right to practice and spread the faith in the ways common to Jehovah's Witnesses."

The defense believes that these judicial acts were issued in violation of the law and international treaties of the Russian Federation. The defendant emphasized: "When the case against me was initiated, the investigation had no information of any action that could be considered a crime. Therefore, the investigation lacked the grounds for initiating a criminal case."

Kalistratov also pointed out that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not prohibit either the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses or the methods of practicing it. "Accordingly," continued Aleksandr, "the followers of this religion were not required to renounce their faith, or to stop expressing it ... (by holding joint meetings for worship, spreading teachings or meeting with fellow believers)."

The European Court of Human Rights has emphasized that "legal formalities should not be used to impede the freedom of association of groups disliked by the authorities or advocating ideas that the authorities would like to suppress" (§ 243).