Convicted 61-year-old Jehovah's Witness is Regularly Sent to the Punishment Cell Despite Serious Health Problems

 RUSSIA 


Convicted 61-year-old Jehovah's Witness is Regularly Sent to the Punishment Cell Despite Serious Health Problems

May 13, 2024 Amur Region,   Jewish Autonomous Area


Alam Aliyev, one of Jehovah's Witness sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for his faith, spent 28 days in the punishment cell of the Penal Colony number 8 in the Amur Region. The conditions of detention there are incompatible with Aliyev's state of health - he has diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, heart and neurological disorders.


A punishment cell (SHIZO) is, simply put, a "prison within a prison". The prisoner is significantly restricted in his rights, for example, he is forbidden to lie down during the day, visits and telephone conversations are prohibited, there are restrictions on receiving parcels.


"Not only are Jehovah's Witnesses unjustly thrown into colonies, but even there additional difficulties are made for them by fabricating violations. "Violations worthy of isolation" can be, for example, an unfastened button, the absence of a tag with the name of the prisoner on the pedestal. Sometimes imprisoned Jehovah's Witnesses do not even know what violations are imputed to them. They are simply sent to a punishment cell," explained Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.


Alam Aliyev suffers from severe headaches, but during his detention in the punishment cell he was not provided with proper medical care and was not even given painkillers. On the contrary, the staff of the institution drew up a report on Aliyev and reprimanded him for putting his head on the table during a pain attack.


According to one of believer's relatives, Alam did not have drinkable water in the punishment cell: "One glass of sweet tea three times a day was all that was available to him, despite the fact that he suffers from diabetes."


During the entire period of his imprisonment, the administration of the colony placed Aliyev in the detention center 4 times for a total of 45 days. The last time was from April 11 to May 8, 2024.


The Case of Aliyev and Others in Birobidzhan


Case History


In May 2018, in the city of Birobidzhan a special FSB operation with the participation of 150 security officials, code-named "Judgement Day", took place. More than 20 families of Jehovah's Witnesses have become victims of criminal prosecution, including Alam Aliyev,Valeriy Kriger, Sergey Shulyarenko, and Dmitriy Zagulin. The believers were charged with holding meetings for worship, which the investigation deemed to be the organizing the activity of an extremist organization and financing it. They spent more than 5 months in pretrial detention. In November 2020, the case went to court. The hearings lasted more than 2 years, and in December 2022, the court sentenced Zagulin to 3 years and 6 months, Aliyev to 6 years and 6 months, and Shulyarenko and Kriger to 7 years in a penal colony. The court of appeal confirmed the terms of Zagulin and Aliyev, and reduced those of Shulyarenko and Krieger by 3 months. The court of cassation upheld the verdict in March 2024. The wives of three of the convicts were also prosecuted: Svetlana Monis, Tatyana Zagulina and Natalya Kriger. In September 2023, Sergey Shulyarenko's wedding took place in the penal colony.


Criminal case


Region:

Jewish Autonomous Area

Locality:

Birobidzhan

Suspected of:

According to the investigation he together with others conducted religious services, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation” (with reference to the decision of the Russian Supreme Court on the liquidation of all 396 registered organisations of Jehovah’s Witnesses)

Court case number:

11807990001000008

Case Initiated:

May 14, 2018

Current case stage:

The verdict entered into force

Investigating:

Investigative Department of the Directorate of the FSB of Russia for the Jewish Autonomous Region

Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:

282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)

Court case number:

№ 1-8/2022 (1-65/2021; 1-609/2020)

Court:

Birobidzhan City Court

Judge:

Yana Vladimirovna

Comentarios

Publicar un comentario

Entradas populares de este blog

Jehovah's witnesses can refuse blood transfusions, decides the Supreme Court (STF).

 BRASIL  Jehovah's witnesses can refuse blood transfusions, decides the Supreme Court (STF). 26/09/2024 The thesis that determines the state the cost of alternative treatments that are available from the Unified Health System (SUS) and that do not involve blood transfusion was fixed. The Supreme Court (STF) ruled on Wednesday (25/9) that medical patients can refuse blood transfusion for religious reasons. The plenary discussed extraordinary appeals (REs) 979742 (topic of General repercussion 952) and 1212272 (topic of General repercussion 1069), which deal with the right to perform surgery without blood transfusion for patients Jehovah's witnesses, a religion that does not accept this type of treatment. In RE 979742, the position of Rapporteur Minister Luís Roberto Barroso prevailed. In his vote, the president of the Supreme Court allowed Jehovah's witnesses to refuse blood transfusions, as long as this refusal meets requirements such as the patient being of legal age, capa...
Leer más

Appeal in Moscow Toughens the Punishment for One of Jehovah's Witnesses. The Terms for Two Other Believers Remain Intact

 RUSSIA Appeal in Moscow Toughens the Punishment for One of Jehovah's Witnesses. The Terms for Two Other Believers Remain Intact October 4, 2024 Moscow On October 3, 2024, the verdict against Anatoliy Marunov, Sergey Tolokonnikov and Roman Mareyev came into force. At the same time, the Moscow City Court added two months to Tolokonnikov's term. Three believers received from four and a half to six and a half years in prison. "The court criminalized the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses," the believers' lawyer said in the appeal. "The result was that the court declared the peaceful and socially harmless practice of religion a crime." Roman Mareyev stressed that the decision of the first instance violates Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which guarantees freedom of conscience and religion. He also noted: "The court did not establish the presence of motives of religious hatred or enmity in my actions, and did not establish agai...
Leer más

Appeal in Samara Upholds the Conviction of Aleksandr Dolganov — Three Years in Prison for Faith in Jehovah God

 RUSSIA Appeal in Samara Upholds the Conviction of Aleksandr Dolganov — Three Years in Prison for Faith in Jehovah God October 1, 2024 Samara Region On September 27, 2024, the panel of judges of the Samara Regional Court agreed with the decision of the first instance in the case of Aleksandr Dolganov. Although the term of punishment for the believer, 35, remained the same, the appeal counted the time under house arrest against the punishment at the rate of 1 day of house arrest for 1 day of colony. According to this decision, Dolganov should serve his sentence a month and a half earlier. Earlier, the Avtozavodskiy District Court of the city of Tolyatti considered it a crime for Dolganov to hold services of Jehovah's Witnesses. According to the believer, this contradicts the explanations of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, so he appealed the verdict. Addressing the panel of judges, Dolganov said: "Bible principles taught me to be a kind, caring, patien...
Leer más