In Udmurtia, The Sentence of Three Jehovah's Witnesses from Izhevsk Came into Force: After the Decision of the Appeal, The Believers Will Go to the Colony

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In Udmurtia, The Sentence of Three Jehovah's Witnesses from Izhevsk Came into Force: After the Decision of the Appeal, The Believers Will Go to the Colony

October 2, 2024 Udmurtia


On October 1, 2024, the Supreme Court of Udmurtia upheld the conviction of Maksim Derendyaev, Aleksandr Kutin and Sergey Ashikhmin. Each of them was sentenced to three years in penal colony on charges of organizing the activities of an extremist organization. The hearing was attended by 18 people, including believers' relatives.


The three men filed appeals against the verdict of the court of first instance while in jail — they were taken into custody in the courtroom immediately after the verdict was announced in May 2024. They plead innocent. Sergey Ashikhmin noted in his appeal: "The verdict is illegal, since I am being persecuted and punished only for being a Christian -- Jehovah's Witness, practicing my religion in non-prohibited ways." Andrey Kutin stated: "The verdict does not contain a single statement of mine that is extremist. The court has not established against which specific social group I acted, when, in what way, for what purpose and what consequences this led to." And Maksim Derendyaev noted: "All my actions were completely peaceful. The prosecution did not claim that I incited violence or religious hatred and enmity." The believers also stressed that the court of first instance did not prove the existence of a motive of religious hatred or enmity in their actions.


Thus, the second sentence in Udmurtia came into force: earlier, the regional supreme court approved large fines for Mikhail Potapov and Sergey Gobozev from Votkinsk.


The Case of Derendyaev and Others in Izhevsk


Case History


In the spring of 2021, a criminal case was initiated against three believers from Izhevsk for organizing the activity of an extremist organization. The next day, FSB and Investigative Committee officers conducted mass searches in the city and interrogated 14 people. Maksim Derendyaev and Aleksandr Kutin were detained and placed in a pretrial detention center, and Sergey Ashikhmin was banned from certain actions. Kutin was released under house arrest after 15 days, and Derendyaev after three months. In February 2022, the case against the three men went to court. It was based, among other things, on the testimony of secret witnesses. In May 2024, the court sentenced the believers to three years in a penal colony. In September, the appellate court upheld the sentence.


Criminal case


Region:

Udmurtia

Locality:

Izhevsk

Suspected of:

According to the investigation, the believers coordinated and coordinated actions to organize the preaching work and spread the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses in Izhevsk

Court case number:

12102940001001701

Case initiated:

April 13, 2021

Current case stage:

The verdict entered into force

Investigating:

Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Udmurt Republic

Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Court case number:

1-7/2024 (1-18/2023; 1-233/2022)

Court of First Instance:

Pervomaisky District Court of Izhevsk

Judge of the Court of First Instance:

Marina Khokhryakova


In the photo: Aleksandr Kutin, Maksim Derendyaev and Sergey Ashikhmin, March 2024.

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