Case of Ishberdin and Starikov in Naberezhnye Chelny

Investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Republic of Tatarstan, Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Airat Giniyatullin issued a decision to initiate a criminal case against unidentified persons.

Judge of the Sovetsky District Court of the city of Kazan Sergey Aptulin issues a search in the homes of Robert Ishberdin and Sergey Starikov.

Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB conduct searches in the homes of believers. Sergey Starikov's investigative actions are led by police captain A. K. Zorin. Law enforcement officers behave politely, do not exert pressure. They confiscate communication equipment, flash drives, a book by religious scholar Sergei Ivanenko, and personal records.

Senior investigator of the Department for Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Republic of Tatarstan Airat Giniyatullin interrogates Robert Ishberdin and Sergey Starikov. Believers now act as accused. They take a recognizance agreement.

The case goes to the Naberezhnye Chelny City Court. It is assigned to Emma Kharkovskaya.

The prosecutor is questioning witnesses for the prosecution Aleksandr Sagiyev and religious scholar Sergey Zheleznyak, assistant to one of the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church for missionary work.

Sagiyev gets mixed up with his answers, since he does not personally know Robert Ishberdin and Sergey Starikov, but only heard about the defendants from others. He also says that Jehovah's Witnesses do not participate in military service, but clarifies that they agree to alternative civilian service.

Without grounds Zheleznyak declares that Jehovah's Witnesses oppose the state and its symbols. At the same time, he admits that he is not personally familiar with the beliefs of followers of this religion, and learned this information from the Internet and publications on sectology. When asked to cite facts, he says that he does not have any.

The court is interrogating the key witness for the prosecution, FSB officer M.R. Khusnutdinov. His answers show that the prosecution interprets the usual religious activity of believers as illegal organizational activity. At the same time, the witness relies on the subjective interpretation of "organization", without presenting evidence confirming the guilt of Ishberdin and Starikov.

The defense points to this and asks how the defendants should exercise their legal right to religion. Khusnutdinov replies that they should "sit at home, study [the Bible] and that's it."

The defense notes that even tea drinking requires a certain order. The FSB officer retorts: "The Bible does not say that Jehovah's Witnesses should organize everything like this."

Interrogation of a secret prosecution witness under the pseudonym Lebedev A.M., who has been serving in one of the churches in Naberezhnye Chelny for more than ten years. He repeats almost verbatim the same accusations as the previous participants in the trial. Lebedev claims that Jehovah's Witnesses are dangerous to society, but cannot substantiate this point of view.