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 RUSSIA The Court of Cassation Again Rejected the Appeal Against the Verdict of Svetlana Monis From Birobidzhan. She Will Continue to Serve Her Suspended Sentence October 20, 2023 Jewish Autonomous Region On October 18, 2023, the Ninth Court of Cassation of Vladivostok confirmed the verdict and decision of the appellate instance against Svetlana Monis, 46, — 2.5 years of suspended imprisonment. This is the second hearing in the Ninth Court of Cassation in Vladivostok. In 2019, Monis was accused of extremism for reading the Bible together with friends, singing religious songs, and saying prayers. The court of first instance imposed a fine. The appeal toughened the sentence, but the court of cassation overturned this decision. Then the cassation court indicated that the appellate instance should reconsider the case and take into account the the explanations of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 11, freedom of religion which is the norm in the Constitution o...

 RUSSIA   The last word of the defendant Alexey Khabarov in Porkhov during the retrial of the case October 16, 2023 Pskov region Speaking before the court, the believer noted that in his case the history of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany and in the Soviet Union is repeated. "There is not a single victim in the case, except myself," he said. Transcript of the court session in the Porkhovsky District Court of the Pskov Region dated 10/16/2023 in the case 1-28/2023 (1-120/2022) on charges of Alexey Nikolaevich Khabarov of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Khabarov Alexey Nikolaevich: Dear Court! At the beginning of my last word, I would like to express my gratitude to those present at this process for their participation in a difficult and at the same time important matter for me. Thank you, Your Honor, for the unbiased conduct of court proceedings, for trying to delve into all the subtlet...

 RUSSIA Brother Rustam Seidkuliev Deported to Turkmenistan After Release From Russian Prison October 19, 2023 Brother Rustam Seidkuliev was released from prison in Russia on April 7, 2023. After waiting several months, he was deported to Turkmenistan on September 17, 2023, because the Russian government had revoked his citizenship. His wife, Yuliya, hopes to be reunited with him soon. Rustam spent over 7 months under house arrest and almost 23 months behind bars. Throughout it all, he maintained a positive attitude and strong faith in Jehovah. In a letter written from his prison cell, Rustam mentioned how examples from the Bible were helping him to endure: “I am especially encouraged by the examples of Naboth and Mephibosheth. They were unjustly accused but maintained their integrity and faith. This helps me to cope with my own situation and to focus on my hope.” Yuliya was only allowed to visit Rustam once every three months while he was in the prison colony. But they were able to...

 NORWAY  OSCE NORWAY: Arbitrary de-registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses: a case of discrimination denounced at the OSCE Even the Russian Orthodox Church which supports Russia’s war on Ukraine and the Catholic Church marred with sexual abuse are not de-registered or barred from state financing HRWF (05.10.2023) – On 5 October, Human Rights Without Frontiers denounced the arbitrary de-registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Norway, at the Plenary Session of the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference on Tolerance and Non-discrimination. « Norway is generally considered a country friendly to religious liberty. Norway, which has a system of registration of religious communities amended in 2020, has registered over 700 different religious groups. Until December 2022, none had been de-registered on account of an assessment of its beliefs and practices. Even the Russian Orthodox Church has kept five religious entities registered and goes on receiving state grants, despite its vocal support f...

 RUSSIA  The last word of the defendant Juno Ilyasova in Snezhnogorsk May 15 , 2023 Murmansk region From the courtroom Telling the court about the difficulties her family faced due to persecution for religious reasons, the believer remarked: "During this trial, the words "Constitution", "law", "danger", "extremism", but I have never heard the phrase "presumption of innocence". Transcript of the court session in the Polar District Court of the Murmansk Region dated 05/15/2023 in case No. 1-79/2022 on charges of Ilyasova Juno Alekseevna of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Ilyasova Juno Alekseevna: First of all, I would like to thank you, Your Honor, for listening attentively, patiently and ensuring the adversarial nature of the parties without violating anyone's rights; giving time for breaks and trying to take into account the opinions of all participants in the pro...

 RUSSIA The Court of Cassation Upheld the Verdict of Six Believers from Saransk. One Of Them Will Be Released in November October 18, 2023 Mordovia,   Saratov Region On October 17, 2023, the First Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Saratov upheld the verdict of six believers from Mordovia. By a court decision, they were sent to a penal colony for terms ranging from two to six years. Vladimir Atryakhin, Georgiy and Yelena Nikulins, Aleksandr Shevchuk, Aleksandr Korolev and Denis Antonov were accused of extremism and imprisoned for peaceful religious activities. Aleksandr Shevchuk is due to be released from prison in November this year after fully serving his sentence. A criminal case has also been opened against his brother Mikhail on similar charges. The world community expresses bewilderment in connection with the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. Back in 2019, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights appealed to the Russian authorit...

 RUSSIA Fined for Talking About the Bible. A Stavropol Court Convicted an 83-Year-Old Widow with a Disability October 18, 2023 Stavropol Territory On October 16, 2023, Stanislav Bobrovsky, judge of the Zheleznovodsk City Court of the Stavropol Territory, found Zinaida Minenko guilty of extremism and sentenced her to a fine of 330 thousand rubles. According to the judge, the elderly believer broke the law when she talked to people about the Bible. The criminal prosecution of the believer began in November 2021 on the initiative of the investigator of the Investigative Committee Pavel Gogolin. She and several other Jehovah's Witnesses were searched. The pensioner was also taken to a garage search without being given the opportunity to eat or drink water, and then interrogated for 4 hours. As a result, the woman required emergency medical attention. As it turned out later, the investigation considered Zinaida's conversations with people about God to be involvement in the activitie...