The Court of Cassation Upheld the Decisions of the Lower Courts Regarding Five Believers from Blagoveshchensk

 RUSSIA


The Court of Cassation Upheld the Decisions of the Lower Courts Regarding Five Believers from Blagoveshchensk

September 28, 2023 Amur Region


On September 26, a panel of judges of the Ninth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Vladivostok upheld the verdict of Sergey Afanasyev, Anton Olshevskiy, Sergey Kardakov, Adam Svarichevskiy and Sergey Yermilov. Each of them received more than six years in prison for their faith.


"Even in Soviet times, during the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, believers were not always sentenced to imprisonment, especially for such a long period as in the present case," one of the cassation appeals noted.


All five believers from Blagoveshchensk plead not guilty and believe that they are being persecuted not for any crime, but for professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. In support of this, believers point out that law enforcement agencies have not established a single fact of their illegal activities.


All this runs counter to the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which states that "actions consisting solely in the exercise of their right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion ... by themselves, if they do not contain signs of extremism, do not constitute a crime."


Case of Olshevskiy and others in Blagoveshchensk


Brief history of the case


In July 2018, searches were carried out at 7 addresses in Blagoveshchensk as part of a criminal case against local believers . A little over a year later, the FSB investigator for the Amur Region, Obukhov, opened a criminal case against Anton Olshevsky and Sergei Ermilov on suspicion of participation in extremist activities. In September 2020, Adam Svarichevsky, Sergei Afanasyev and Sergei Kardakov also became defendants in this case (his place was searched). In March 2021, the charges against the believers were changed: all five were accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization, and Afanasyev was also accused of financing it. In September 2021, the case of the believers came to court. A year and two months later, the court found the believers guilty of extremism and sentenced Afanasyev to 6.5 years, Kardakov to 6 years and 4 months, and Ermilov, Olshevsky and Svarichevsky to 6 years and 3 months in prison. The appeal and cassation left the verdict unchanged.


Criminal case


Region:

Amur Region

Locality:

Blagoveshchensk

What is suspected:

According to investigators, he participated in the continuation of the activities of the liquidated organization through direct participation in religious events

Criminal case number:

11907100001000062

Initiated:

October 21, 2019

Current stage of the case:

verdict took effect

Investigates:

Investigative Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Amur Region

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)

Court case number:

1-135/2022 (1-1408/2021)

Court:

Blagoveshchensk City Court of the Amur Region

Judge of the trial court:

Daria Varkalevich

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