Appeal in Tatarstan Upholds the Verdict of Three Jehovah's Witnesses

 RUSSIA


Appeal in Tatarstan Upholds the Verdict of Three Jehovah's Witnesses

November 3, 2023 Tatarstan


On November 1, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan upheld the sentence of the first instance—2 years suspended for Tatyana Obizhestvit, 2.5 years suspended for Leysan Bochkareva and 3 years and 1 month in prison for Andrey Bochkarev, who has already served this term in full while in jail.


The prosecutor considered the decision of the court of first instance too lenient and in March 2023 filed an appeal in which he asked the court to "strengthen" the punishment for the believers, as well as to exclude mitigating circumstances from the verdict.


In Tatarstan, 13 Jehovah's Witnesses are persecuted for their faith. One of them, Konstantin Sannikov , is serving his sentence in a penal colony. In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights found prosecutions on such grounds unlawful.


Case of the Bochkarevs and Obizhestvit in Kazan


Brief history of the case


In January 2020, Tatyana Obizhestvit received guests at her home. Suddenly, security forces burst into her room. After a search of her home, 15 people were taken away for questioning. Among them were two women over 80 years old and two children. A criminal case was opened against Tatiana, as well as Andrei and Leysan Bochkarev under an extremist article, simply because they believe in Jehovah God. The believers spent 2 days in a temporary detention facility, after which the women were placed under house arrest and the man in a pre-trial detention center. In April 2021, the case went to trial. The materials included two secret witnesses: one posing as a Jehovah's Witness, and the other claiming that he was "offered to join the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses." In February 2023, Tatyana Obizhestvit and Leysan Bochkareva received suspended sentences of 2 and 2.5 years, respectively. Andrei Bochkarev was sentenced to 3 years and 1 month of real imprisonment, but was released in the courtroom, since he actually served this term in a pre-trial detention center. The appeal upheld this decision.


Criminal case


Region:

Tatarstan

Locality:

Kazan

Criminal case number:

11901920041000244

Initiated:

December 27, 2019

Current stage of the case:

verdict took effect

Investigates:

IC of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Tatarstan

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Court case number:

1-23/2023 (1-46/2022; 1-280/2021)

Court of First Instance:

Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan

Judge of the trial court:

Yuri Arsenyuk

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