Term in a Penal Colony for Faith: an Appeal in the Primorye Territory Upheld the Verdict of Three Jehovah's Witnesses. Among Them is a Believer, 72, with a Serious Illness

On October 3, 2024, the Primorye Territory Regional Court upheld the conviction of Boris Andreyev, Anatoliy Li and Nataliya Sharapova. The panel of judges reduced the sentences of Li and Sharapova by one month. Nataliya served her term in full during her detention in the pre-trial detention center and is expected to be released soon.

Andreyev and Li will have to spend about two years in the colony. Speaking before the Court of Appeal, Anatoliy Li said: "I didn't kill, I didn't rob, I didn't go to rallies, but my family is suffering. I just believe in God in a manner different from everyone else's. Boris Andreyev noted: "There is not a single piece of evidence of cruel accusations in the court materials. And even if someone wanted to look for something like this in my more than 70 years of life, they wouldn't find anything... I just lived, worshipped God the way it is written in the Bible, wanted to be happy and wished the same for others."

Due to the suspicion of cancer, Andreev needs regular medical examinations, which is difficult to organize in a pre-trial detention center. Here is how his wife, Aleksandra, commented on the situation: "The transfer to the place of serving the sentence can again postpone the continuation of the examination indefinitely, and the stress that my husband will have to endure in connection with the moving and adapting to the new place, as well as age and the upcoming cold season, can provoke the development of cancer."

Having expressed their disagreement with the accusations of extremism, Andreyev and Li in their appeals also drew attention to the fact that during the hearings in the court of first instance they were kept in metal cages. Such actions are in violation of article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is noteworthy that in July 2024, the ECHR ruled in the case of several Jehovah's Witnesses from Russia and recognized such treatment of the defendants as "a manifestation of degrading treatment and a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights" (Article 3).