The Court of Cassation Approved the Prison Terms for Believers from Zeya: 6.5 and 6 Years. Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeniy Bitusov Will Continue to Serve Their Sentences in the Colony

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The Court of Cassation Approved the Prison Terms for Believers from Zeya: 6.5 and 6 Years. Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeniy Bitusov Will Continue to Serve Their Sentences in the Colony

March 20, 2024 Amur Region


On March 19, 2024, the judicial panel of the Ninth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Vladivostok rejected the complaint of Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeniy Bitusov and approved the sentence of the first instance: 6.5 and 6 years in prison, respectively.


In their cassation appeals, the believers reminded the court that law enforcement agencies had not established a single fact that they had committed illegal activities. Also, not a single injured person was identified. The defendants' lawyer stressed that "their motive was not extremist, but the intention to exercise the right to profess and spread their faith." Convicts are characterized exclusively on the positive side. Bitusov has a dependent young daughter.


In the Amur Region, 23 of Jehovah's Witnesses faced criminal prosecution on religious grounds. 13 of them are already serving sentences in the colony.


The case of Druzhinin and Bitusov in Zeya


Case History


In the summer of 2020, the FSB opened a criminal case against Jehovah's Witnesses in Zeya, including Yevgeniy Bitusov and Leonid Druzhinin, who were witnesses in the case of their co-religionist Konstantin Moiseenko. A year later, they were charged with participating in the activities of an extremist organization. The homes of believers were searched twice, in March 2019 and October 2020. Both men have families, and Yevgeniy Bitusov is the father of a minor child. In October 2021, the investigator reclassified the charge as organizing the activities of an extremist organization. In May 2022, the criminal case was sent to court. In December 2022, the court sentenced Bitusov and Druzhinin to 6 and 6.5 years in prison, respectively. The appellate court and the court of cassation upheld the verdict.


Criminal case


Region:

Amur Region

Locality:

Zeya

Suspected of:

"By finding places for religious events, providing these places with computer equipment ... knowingly organized weekly religious events" (from the decision to prosecute)

Court case number:

12007100001000038

Case initiated:

August 10, 2020

Current case stage:

The verdict entered into force

Investigating:

Branch of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Amur Region

Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Court case number:

1-96/2022

Court of First Instance:

 Zeysky District Court of the Amur Region

 Judge of the Court of First Instance:

 Olga Kolesova


In the photo: Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeniy Bitusov in the court, December 2022.

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