The Sentence of Sona Olopova from Tolyatti Came Into Force After an Appeal—Two Years of Forced Labor for Believing in Jehovah God

 RUSSIA


The Sentence of Sona Olopova from Tolyatti Came Into Force After an Appeal—Two Years of Forced Labor for Believing in Jehovah God

April 5, 2024 Samara Region


On April 3, 2024, the Samara Regional Court upheld the conviction of Sonya Olopova—2 years of forced labor. The court considered her participation in collective discussions of the Bible via video link to be extremism.


In her appeal, Sona noted that the court of first instance did not consider ordinary religious practice as an exercise of the right to freedom of religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not prohibit. Instead, in the opinion of the believer, only the fact of professing a religion was enough for the court to pass a sentence. The court did not clarify or establish any other circumstances. Speaking with her last word before the judicial board, she said: "The materials of my criminal case do not contain a single criminal act, not a single statement against the state, against people of other religions, against people of other nationalities."


The "evidence" base included an examination from another criminal case, in which Olopova is not even mentioned, as well as the testimony of a secret witness who claimed that Sona was distributing banned literature but did not see it himself.


In the Samara Region, 10 Jehovah's Witnesses have already been prosecuted for their faith, five of whom have been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 7 to 8 years.


Case of Olopova in Tolyatti


Case History


In May 2023, in Tolyatti, officers of the Investigative Committee and the FSB broke into the homes of at least three families of believers, including Sona Olopova, against whom a criminal case was opened for her faith. After interrogation, they took a written undertaking not to leave the place. At the end of July 2023, the case went to court. There was a secret witness in the case who said that the services were held without signs of extremism and were not related to the activities of any legal entity. The prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to 4 years in prison. In January 2024, she was sentenced to 2 years of forced labor. An appeal in April 2024 upheld this decision.


Criminal case


Region:

Samara Region

Locality:

Tolyatti

Court case number:

12302360032000242

Case initiated:

May 15, 2023

Current case stage:

The verdict entered into force

Investigating:

Central Interdistrict Investigation Department for the City of Tolyatti of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Samara Region

Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:

282.2 (2)

Court case number:

1-50/2024 (1-547/2023)

Court of First Instance:

Central District Court of Tolyatti

 Judge of the Court of First Instance:

 Tatiana Begunova

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