From Colony to Prison: an Appeal Upheld the Decision to Toughen the Punishment for Jehovah's Witness Viktor Stanley

 CRIMEA 


From Colony to Prison: an Appeal Upheld the Decision to Toughen the Punishment for Jehovah's Witness Viktor Stanley

July 2, 2024 Crimea


On June 24, 2024, the Krasnodar Regional Court approved the decision to transfer Viktor Stashevskiy from a penal colony to a regular prison. He became the first convicted Jehovah's Witness to serve his sentence under such conditions.


Viktor Stashevskiy is a former sailor of the Northern Fleet of Russia. In 2019, he faced persecution because of his religion and was sentenced to 6.5 years in a penal colony. He was sent to colony No. 9 in the Krasnodar Territory.


The administration of the colony, for far-fetched reasons, regularly imposed penalties on him, some of which he did not even know about. Penalties became a formal reason for keeping Viktor in strict conditions, where he spent a significant portion of his term.


Now the believer will go to prison for 3 years to serve the rest of the sentence. Prison conditions are more stringent and allow less freedom of movement.


"A highly moral, law-abiding person is not only imprisoned for crimes he did not commit, but also suffers from the tightening of conditions of detention simply because he found himself in a colony, the administration of which is biased against Jehovah's Witnesses as a group," said Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.


Case of Stashevskiy in Sevastopol


Case History


In May 2019, an FSB investigator opened a criminal case against Viktor Stashevskiy for organizing the activities of an extremist organization. He was accused of “propagating the ideas of Jehovah’s Witnesses, holding meetings, and carrying out religious performances.” The case involved the testimony of a secret witness. After 8 months of trials, the hearings began anew in connection with the resignation of the judge. In March 2021, the court sentenced Stashevskiy to 6.5 years in a general regime colony. The appellate court upheld the verdict. Since September 2021, the believer has been in IK-9 of the Krasnodar Territory. There, Stashevskiy was accused of malicious violation of the order due to numerous penalties, most of which he did not even know about. In May 2024, the court ruled to change the type of correctional institution for a believer to a prison for a period of 3 years. In June, the appeal court upheld this ruling.


Criminal case


Region:

Crimea

Locality:

Sevastopol

Suspected of:

According to the investigation he continued the activities and propagandized Jehovah’s Witnesses’ ideas, conducted meetings and carried out religious speeches

Court case number:

11907350001670005

Case initiated:

May 31, 2019

Current case stage:

The verdict entered into force

Investigating:

Investigation Office of Russian Federal Security Office for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol

Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Court case number:

1-23/2021 (1-165/2020)

Court:

Gagarinsky District Court of Sevastopol

Judge:

Pavel Kryllo

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