The case of Pasynkov in Mednogorsky

Searches are being carried out in the apartment of Alexei Pasynkov in Stavropol, as well as at his brothers in the village of Mednogorsky (Karachay-Cherkessia). The search of Alexei's house is led by police major Azat Dzhamturiev, an operative for the Department of Internal Affairs of the CPE of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Around 8:30 a.m., the believer is picked up from his place of work and taken home. At Alexei's request, the security forces allow his wife to go outside with her disabled child so as not to disturb him. According to law enforcement officers, the search is being conducted in connection with a criminal case against another believer. The man's phone is seized. After the search, the security forces took Aleksey back to his place of work.

The Pasynkovs are summoned for interrogation as witnesses in the criminal case against Irina Perefilieva.

A. A. Ionov, senior investigator of the Zelenchuksky Interdistrict Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, initiates a criminal case against Aleksey Pasynkov under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

According to the decision to initiate the case, Pasynkov, among other things, "organized and maintained contacts with persons professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, including those living in other regions of the Russian Federation; attracted to participate in the activities of a religious association ... Perefiliev I. A. and unidentified persons ... was the initiator and had an advantage in determining the course of worship, directed the actions of other persons present at the services.

Alexei Pasynkov's apartment in Stavropol is being searched again. It starts at 7 am and lasts an hour and a half. It is carried out by the FSB operative for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic Ivan Klimenko, the specialist of the CPE of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Stavropol Territory, detective Vitaly Dobrovolsky, as well as Major Azat Dzhamturiev, who searched the Pasynkovs in 2021. Law enforcement officers are looking for "objects and documents confirming illegal activities" of Alexei Pasynkov, but as a result they do not seize anything.

After the search, Alexei and his wife are taken to the police department of the Oktyabrsky district of Stavropol for a conversation with a police officer.

A search is underway in the village of Kardonikskaya at the home of Alexei Pasynkov's brothers and mother. It starts at 10 am and lasts 2 hours. It is conducted by five people. During the search, the security forces behave aggressively, scattering things around the apartment. Against the background of stress, a woman has an attack, she calls an ambulance. Phones and computers are seized from believers.

The security forces come with a search to two more residents of the village of Kardonikskaya. According to the women, law enforcement officers threaten one of them with forced hospitalization in a neuropsychiatric dispensary.

The case is submitted to the Urup District Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. It will be considered by judge Rustam Chomaev.

The court satisfies the believer's request for the admission of a defense counsel to participate in the proceedings along with a lawyer.

In addition to the participants of the process, there are 15 listeners in the hall.

Prosecutor Azamat Adzhiyev reads out the indictment. Alexei Pasynkov reads out his attitude to the charges, without admitting guilt in extremism.

A witness is being questioned.

Alexei Pasynkov's relatives are being searched again in connection with another criminal case, Svetlana Ogoreva. Bibles, personal records and electronic devices are seized from them.

Interrogation of prosecution witnesses.

The case is being transferred to another judge, Ida Uzdenova, in connection with the death of Judge Chomaev.

The case is again transferred to another judge, Galina Evsegneeva.

The court granted two petitions of Aleksey Pasynkov: on the admission of a lawyer and on ensuring access to justice. According to the latter, listeners are allowed to attend the trial.

Aleksey Pasynkov expresses his attitude to the charge brought against him: "In the indictment, religious lectures, discussion of religious topics, meetings for worship, discussion of the Holy Scriptures, maintaining contact with fellow believers are listed as imputed to me... Any religion, by its very nature, presupposes algorithms of spiritual interaction of believers with each other. Otherwise, such a religion will simply cease to exist."

Aleksey's lawyer, speaking with an attitude to the prosecution, draws attention to the fact that the indictment does not contain a specific description of what manifestations of extremism, when and under what circumstances his client committed, what statements or quotes of an extremist nature he uttered.

Examination of prosecution witnesses. They either do not explain anything, or speak from someone else's words, agreeing that these are rumors.

One of the witnesses states that he made a video recording of the services and handed the materials over to law enforcement officers. However, he cannot confirm the participation of Aleksey Pasynkov in meetings of believers after 2017.

The questioning of prosecution witnesses continues. Among them is Ilya Klimenko, an FSB operative who took part in the search of Alexei Pasynkov's house. It describes the religious activities of Jehovah's Witnesses, but does not mention any specific illegal actions of the believer.

Another witness states that she has never seen the defendant.

The FSB searches Aleksey's house, this time in a case against his wife, Yulia. On the same day, a search is carried out at the home of his mother, against whom a criminal case has also been opened.

Interrogation of prosecution witness Leonid Petrov, who is confused about the issue of acquaintance with the defendant. Aleksey Pasynkov himself says that he does not know this man and his testimony is a lie.

Aleksey Pasynkov notes a negative trend in judicial practice: "Any connection with Jehovah's Witnesses, unfortunately, is interpreted as a crime. The mere mention that a person belongs to a given religion is used to initiate operational-search activities."