The Primorye Regional Court in Vladivostok Overturned the Harsh Sentence for Dmitriy Barmakin, Sending the Case for Review

 RUSSIA


The Primorye Regional Court in Vladivostok Overturned the Harsh Sentence for Dmitriy Barmakin, Sending the Case for Review

August 8, 2023 Primorye Territory


On August 8, 2023, the appeal overturned a conviction of 8 years in prison for Dmitriy Barmakin, 49. The believer was released from the pre-trial detention center under recognizance agreement, and his case was sent for a new, already third, trial to the court of first instance.


When Dmitriy was arrested in 2018, he spent more than a year in a pre-trial detention center, and then another 2 years under a ban on certain actions. As a result of the trial, the Pervorechensk District Court of Vladivostok acquitted the believer. Then judge Stanislav Salnikov noted: “Rights related to freedom of religion must be ensured regardless of whether a person is a member of any religious organization or not, in connection with which the right to profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses must be ensured even after the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia dated April 20, 2017".


However, the prosecutor appealed this decision, and the court overturned the acquittal, sending the case back for a new trial. In April 2023, the new composition of the court sentenced Dmitriy Barmakin to 8 years in a penal colony. He was immediately taken into custody, and he again ended up in a pre-trial detention center.


Dmitriy's wife, Yelena, is also prosecuted under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for their peace-loving convictions. The Pervorechensk Court of Vladivostok continues to consider the case against her and 9 other local believers.


In the first acquittal in the Barmakin case, the court noted that the believer “is subject to acquittal due to the absence of corpus delicti in the act of the defendant” and he “realized the right to freedom of religion enshrined in the Russian Constitution.” This decision was in tune with the position of the European Court of Human Rights and human rights community both in Russia and abroad.


Case of Barmakin in Vladivostok


Brief history of the case


Dmitry Barmakin came to Vladivostok from the Crimea to take care of his sick mother-in-law. In July 2018, masked and armed law enforcement officers broke into the house of an elderly woman and ransacked it. Then Dmitry was arrested only because of his faith - he spent more than a year in a pre-trial detention center. The judge returned the criminal case against the believer to the prosecutor due to the vagueness of the accusation - it contained only descriptions of religious rites. In April 2021, the case went to court again, and 7 months later, Judge Stanislav Salnikov fully acquitted Dmitry Barmakin. In April 2022, the regional court overturned the acquittal and sent the case back for a new trial. After a second consideration, the court of first instance sentenced the believer to 8 years in prison. In July 2023, an appeal overturned this sentence, set the believer free, and returned the case for a new, already third, trial.


Criminal case


Region:

Primorye Territory

Locality:

Vladivostok

What is suspected:

according to investigators, together with others, he held divine services, which is interpreted as “organizing the activities of an extremist organization” (with reference to the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the liquidation of all 396 registered organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses)

Case number:

11802050005000051

Initiated:

July 27, 2018

Current stage of the case:

trial in court of first instance

Investigating:

Investigation Department for the Pervorechensky District of Vladivostok

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2(1)

Case number in court:

1-43/2023 (1-391/2022; 1-305/2021; 1-21/2020; 1-388/2019)

Essentially considers:

Pervorechensky District Court of Vladivostok

Judge of the Court of First Instance:

Larisa Smolenkova


In the photo: Dmitriy Barmakin and his wife Yelena. November 2021

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