The Court of Cassation in Vladivostok Upheld the Conviction of Believers From Yelizovo

 RUSSIA


The Court of Cassation in Vladivostok Upheld the Conviction of Believers From Yelizovo

September 15, 2023 Kamchatka Territory


On September 12, 2023, the Ninth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Vladivostok upheld the sentence of Konstantin Bazhenov and his wife Snezhana, as well as Vera Zolotova, to 2 years suspended sentence for their convictions.


Court proceedings against believers from Yelizovo have been going on for 4 years. In September 2020, the judge of the Yelizovsky District Court, Yuliya Piskun, handed down a guilty verdict to all three, which was approved by the appeal, but in November 2021, the Court of Cassation overturned this decision and returned the case to the appeal stage. In January 2022, a second appeal acquitted the believers. However, the prosecutor's office, through the Supreme Court, succeeded in overturning this decision. As a result, the case was sent for a new appeal, the believers were found guilty of extremism and received suspended sentences. The believers filed the cassation appeal.


In the Kamchatka Territory, 10 Jehovah's Witnesses have already been repressed for their religious beliefs. Six of them were given suspended sentences of various lengths, and two were ordered to pay fines.


The case of the Bazhenovs and others in Elizovo


Brief history of the case


In 2018, in Yelizovo, teacher spouses Snezhana and Konstantin Bazhenov, as well as pensioner widow Vera Zolotova, were sent to jail, their houses were searched, and a few days later they were given a written undertaking not to leave. The Investigative Committee equated holding joint worship services with illegal activities. In September 2020, the court sentenced each to 2 years of probation. The appeal upheld this decision, but the cassation court returned the case for retrial to the regional court. In January 2022, he acquitted the believers, but the prosecutor’s office got the verdict overturned in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and the case returned to the stage of appeal, and then cassation, which supported the conviction - 2 years of probation.


Criminal case


Region:

Kamchatka Territory

Locality:

Elizovo

What is suspected:

According to investigators, he held religious services together with others, 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).

Criminal case number:

11802300004000052

Initiated:

August 17, 2018

Current stage of the case:

verdict took effect

Investigates:

Investigative Department for the city of Elizovo Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Kamchatka Territory

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (2)

Court case number:

1-78/2020

Court:

Elizovsky District Court of Kamchatka Territory

Judge:

Yulia Piskun


In the photo: Vera Zolotova, Konstantin and Snezhana Bazhenov.

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