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 RUSSIA   The last word of the defendant Sergei Agadzhanov in Magadan February 12, 2024 Magadan region The defendant explains why there is no evidence of his extremist motives in the case: "I have one motive: I wish well to all people, without exception, and to those who acted as witnesses for the prosecution, too." Transcript of the court session in the Magadan City Court of the Magadan region dated 02/12/2024 in case 1-6/2024 on charges of Sergei Artemovich Agadzhanov and others of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Agadzhanov Sergey Artemovich: I had such an idea. If we take the last words of all the defendants and combine them, we would get a complete picture, like an assembled puzzle of pieces. All 13 defendants would most likely have signed up for this common last word. I was impressed by the biography of Ivan Puida's family. I was surprised by some of the details of this biography. For myself, I noted an...

 RUSSIA New Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses in Vladivostok February 19, 2024 Primorye Territory On February 14, 2024, at 6 a. m., searches of believers were carried out in Vladivostok. Electronic devices, photographs and personal records were seized, after which they were interrogated in the local department of the Investigative Committee. In one of the cases, during the search, a decision of the Frunzensky Court of Vladivostok dated February 12, 2024 was presented. Since 2017, 27 residents of Vladivostok have faced criminal prosecution for their faith.

 RUSSIA  The last word of the defendant Sergei Yerkin in Magadan on February 9, 2024. Magadan region In his last words, 70-year-old Sergei Yerkin said: "How can I not worship the God Jehovah? Not only the Bible, but also the environment and nature teach me that it would not be wise." Transcript of the court session in the Magadan City Court of the Magadan region dated 02/09/2024 in the case 1-12/2023 (1-220/2022) on the charges of Yerkin Sergey Livievich and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2, Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Yerkin Sergey Livievich: Your Honor, dear participants in the process! The trial, which lasted more than a year, is nearing its end. I want to thank you that, despite such a long period of time, you have been listening very carefully to the arguments of the parties and examining the case materials throughout this time. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to your ass...

 UKRAINE Jehovah's Witnesses and the War in Ukraine 16/02/2024 Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, different religious organizations have reacted differently both to the events in Ukraine and to the war. The position of these religions did not leave society indifferent. Unfortunately, we know of cases in which the leaders of some religions openly approved the war in Ukraine and, consequently, the death of many innocent people. For this reason, many parishioners who do not agree with this position have even stopped attending their churches. Some other religious organizations have adopted a position of neutrality. In this sense, there is a lot of talk about the position of Jehovah's Witnesses. In this article, I would like to present my personal research on this topic based on the sources available to the author. And first of all, I would like to give an answer to the main question: does the political neutrality of Jehovah's Witnesses mean their indifference to what is...

 RUSSIA A court in Smolensk gave two elderly women a 2-year suspended sentence — they "participated in joint prayers to Jehovah and discussion of Bible interpretations" February 16, 2024 Smolensk Region Tatyana Galkevich, 64, and Valentina Vladimirova, 67, Jehovah's Witnesses from Smolensk, received 2 years of suspended sentence with restriction of freedom for a year each for their faith. This decision was made by the Industrialniy District Court of Smolensk on February 14, 2024. The believers deny the guilt of extremism, and the verdict is considered groundless. "Jehovah's Witnesses, as law-abiding citizens, have stopped using premises for worship, but they cannot stop worshiping God and keeping silent about the beautiful Bible truths," Vladimirova said. Galkevich commented on the process as follows: "The example of Jesus Christ himself helps me ... not to be embittered under the circumstances, when I am unjustifiably persecuted and terribly labeled an...

 RUSSIA Focused on the Honor of Serving Jehovah The Vyselkovskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory will soon announce its verdict in the case involving Brothers Yevgeniy Bochko, Vladimir Kolesnikov, Aleksey Shubnikov, Vitaliy Ushakov, and Valeriy Vechkayev. The prosecutor has yet to request a potential sentence. February 13, 2024 Profiles Yevgeniy Bochko Born: 1975 (Novoberezansky, Krasnodar Territory) Biography: Worked as a maintenance engineer Prayed to God for help identifying the true religion. Baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1998 Married Anna in 2009 Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis Personal Comments What has been your focus while going through this criminal investigation and trial? Throughout this process, my wife and I have prayed that we can bring praise to Jehovah’s name. We have had that opportunity. While one of the investigators was reviewing volumes of material in the criminal case, he asked us several questions about Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are 1...

 RUSSIA  The last word of the defendant Yevgeny Zyablov in Magadan on February 9, 2024. Magadan region In the last word, the believer expressed confidence in his innocence and said: "Nothing that would connect me with extremism has ever been proven, and it has not been proven. By and large, only [my] Bible-based creeds, which are not banned in Russia, were considered." Transcript of the court session in the Magadan City Court of the Magadan region dated 02/09/2023 in the case 1-12/2023 (1-220/2022) on charges of Evgeny Anatolyevich Zyablov and others. of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 282.2, Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Zyablov Evgeny Anatolyevich: The last word of the defendant Evgeny Anatolyevich Zyablov, accused under articles 282.3 (1), 282.2 (2) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of crimes that I did not commit. He spent 2 days in detention in an IVS, 126 days in a pre-trial detention center, 173 days und...