An Appeal in Khabarovsk Commuted the Most Severe Sentence to Date for Jehovah's Witnesses. Three Men Have Been Released and Will Serve Suspended Sentences

On October 10, 2024, the Khabarovsk Regional Court reduced the terms of punishment assigned by the first instance to Vitaliy Zhuk, Nikolay Polevodov and Stanislav Kim by a year and replaced them with suspended sentences with a probationary period of 5 years. The believers were released from the pre-trial detention center.

The prosecution sought tougher punishment: in his presentation, Assistant Prosecutor A.M. Snytko asked to appoint 9 years in a penal colony for men, and from 4 to 5 years suspended sentence for women. The believers themselves insist on complete innocence of extremism. In her appeal, Tatyana Zhuk stated: "The sentence passed on me is subject to cancellation, since it was adopted with a significant violation of the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, international legal acts, criminal and criminal procedure legislation, and the conclusions set out in it contradict the factual circumstances of the case." Nikolay Polevodov emphasized: "I was convicted solely for my religious beliefs. And I expressed these beliefs in an absolutely legal way."

In response to complaints from believers and the prosecutor's office, the court of appeal ruled to commute the sentence of the first instance: Polyevodov—up to 7.5 years, Kim—up to 7 years and 2 months, Zhuk—up to 7 years, his wife Tatyana and Svetlana Sedova—up to 4 years, and Maya Karpushkina—up to 3 years suspended.