Case of Bazhenov and Others in Saratov

The Saratov Regional Court is holding an appeal hearing on the appeal against the verdict against the verdict of Saratov believers Konstantin Bazhenov, Aleksey Budenchuk, Felix Makhammadiev, Alexei Miretsky, Roman Gridasov, Gennady German. The harsh sentence of the lower court remains in force. Believers intend to seek its abolition in Russian and international instances.

Konstantin Bazhenov was transferred to correctional colony No. 3 in the Ulyanovsk region (see the address in his profile).

Alexey Budenchuk, Gennady German, Roman Gridasov, Felix Makhammadiev and Aleksey Miretsky were transferred to correctional colony No. 1 in the Orenburg region (see addresses in their profiles).

Shortly before Alexei was sent to the colony, the Budenchuk family's house completely burned down, Tatyana and the children miraculously escape, having managed to take only documents with them. Friends and fellow believers help to build new modest housing for the family.

The spouses of all 5 prisoners are seeking a short visit from their husbands. Friends give them letters, gifts, food. A large support group spends all day with the wives of believers in the colony.

As a result of the meeting, it becomes known that Alexei Miretsky's health worsened after the beating, the question of surgical intervention arose, but it was postponed for now.

Gennady German, according to his wife's observations, "was in a good mood, his eyes shone with love, and it was clear that he was collected and calm, did not complain about anything, looked decent."

The wife of Roman Gridasov reports that he "has noticeably lost weight, there is a strong internal tension, but he is holding on."

Konstantin Bazhenov gets a long date with his wife. The spouses spend 3 days together. According to Irina, her husband is "in great spiritual and emotional shape."

In a joint statement , 27 European states that are members of the European Union (EU), as well as 6 other non-EU countries, at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), call for an investigation into the report that on February 6, 2020, in Orenburg, employees of correctional colony No. 1 beat five citizens (Alexei Budenchuk, Gennady German, Roman Gridasov, Felix Mahammadiev and Alexei Miretsky). All of them suffered serious injuries, and one of them required hospitalization.

It becomes known that the letters that came to the colony for Konstantin Bazhenov are redirected to the FSB.

Felix Makhammadiyev, who had a damaged lung, is recovering in a prison hospital, the threat to his life has passed. Believers Budenchuk, Miretsky, Gridasov and Herman are also feeling better. They are forced to work 10 hours a day.

Makhammadiev gets a job as an orderly. During the day, he works in the medical unit, and in the evening and on weekends he returns to the barracks. Prior to that, he helped cut prisoners and learned to work in the sewing industry.

Due to quarantine, believers have to wait almost six months for a second date with their wives. In a pandemic, communication takes place in masks for two hours. Felix Makhammadiev, Gennady German, Aleksey Miretsky and Roman Gridasov, according to their wives, look good and try to support their families emotionally despite being taken into custody.

The administration of correctional colony No. 3 in the Ulyanovsk region transfers Konstantin Bazhenov to easier conditions of detention.

At the Federal State Vocational Educational Institution No. 125, Konstantin receives the specialty "painter". He is also trained as a master of carpentry and parquet work.

Konstantin Bazhenov receives a positive response from the FKP of educational institution No. 125. The master describes the believer as "an accurate, ready to help others, proactive and attentive student."

The lawyer of Herman and Gridasov sends a petition to the court to mitigate the believers' punishment and replace the remaining term of imprisonment with a fine.

A similar petition to the Central District Court of Orenburg is also filed against Miretsky and Budenchuk.

Konstantin has the opportunity to go to the gym, use the library, which contains several copies of Bibles.

From 25 to 30 people live in the barracks with Bazhenov, which is 2 times less than it was when he arrived.

Konstantin is in good standing with the administration of the colony, he has four incentives, and he has been transferred to easier conditions of detention. The believer receives many letters of support and calls his wife every day. Relatives who do not share his beliefs also write to him, encouraging him not to lose heart.

5 days a week, Bazhenov works in a shop on the territory of the colony. His responsibilities include unloading goods, cleaning and other work.

Konstantin began to worry about heart problems, back pain, and his eyesight deteriorated.

The third meeting of believers with their spouses takes place a few days before the colony is completely quarantined. Miretsky's wife notes that Alexei "generally feels tolerant, although there are periods of exacerbation of [chronic] diseases."

The wife of Felix Makhammadiyeva says that her husband often catches a cold and has problems with the gastrointestinal tract due to the inability to follow a diet. Since October, prisoners have not been able to receive letters and have been banned from receiving visits and parcels.

Shortly after filing a petition to replace the unserved part of the sentence with a fine, Herman was reprimanded for allegedly not greeting the colony staff. This allows the administration of the institution to provide the court with a negative characteristic, which may affect the judge's decision.

In the run-up to the trial, believers maintain a positive attitude, thanks to the support of Orenburg's close and sympathetic residents. Letters from dozens of different countries also keep those convicted of faith from drowning in their spirits.

In the colony, German and Gridasov work in the sewing industry. Roman also mastered the profession of a cook.

"Believers are forced to work from morning to evening. After a hard day's work, they often only have time to wash and wash things. Conditions in the colony are poor. Prisoners are provided with only a small bedside table for storing their belongings. The clothes are of poor quality. According to those who have been kept in the colony for a long time, in summer it is very difficult to get permission to take off thick clothes, when due to hot weather the body gets very hot and you have to work in the literal sense of your own sweat. Their health condition has deteriorated, they have lost weight, their chronic diseases have worsened," says the lawyer of the believers who visited them in prison back in the spring. After his departure from the pre-trial detention center, a quarantine was declared there in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, visits by the defender are not yet possible.

"Unfortunately, for Kostya and me, such a decision was to some extent expected," Irina Bazhenova, Konstantin's wife, said after the trial, implying that under conditions of repression against Russian Jehovah's Witnesses, courts can easily ignore the exemplary behavior of believers in places of detention.

The lawyer reports that they take part in various sports and cultural events in the colony, including table tennis and football tournaments.

Payphones stopped working in the colony. Now spouses cannot communicate with their husbands. Prisoners use rare opportunities to contact their wives through calls and letters to support their loved ones.

Wives have a hard time with separation. In addition to emotional experiences, they had to face the need to resolve everyday problems. Stress also has a negative impact on their health.

According to the wives, the lack of information about the epidemiological situation in the colony adds to the concerns. Many prisoners are sick, but there is no exact information about the nature of the diseases and the condition of the believers.

Relatives of believers constantly take care of the delivery of parcels to the colony 1000 km from home. Some relatives of the convicts had to get additional work. Friends and relatives try to provide all possible assistance to the families of prisoners of conscience.

Gennady German has been working in the packing department for a month and a half. Due to the lack of air and light in the workplace, his health deteriorates and he asks for a transfer.

Roman Gridasov notes that the working conditions in the sewing workshop have improved: glass has been put in the windows, the working week has been reduced to five days. Talking about living conditions, he says that there is no hot water in the barracks, and cold water is not always there, the bed is "sagging like a hammock."

After the colony became aware of the submission of documents to the court to replace the unserved part of the sentence with a fine, Alexei Miretsky receives a penalty from the administration of the penal colony.

The Central District Court of Orenburg refuses to replace Roman Gridasov's unserved part of his sentence with a fine. The defense considers the court's decision unfounded and intends to appeal it. The right to re-apply for mitigation of punishment for a believer will appear no earlier than six months later, at the end of June 2021, that is, two months before the end of the term of Roman Gridasov's imprisonment in a colony appointed by the court.

The Central District Court of Orenburg refuses to satisfy the petition of the defense of Alexei Miretsky to replace the unserved part of the sentence with a fine. This decision will be appealed because Aleksey meets the necessary requirements for release. Despite the exemplary behavior of the believer, the administration of the colony does not apply incentives to him, which the court usually takes into account in favor of the prisoner. Alexei also has job guarantees in case of release.

Meanwhile, the believer's health is deteriorating in prison - problems with the musculoskeletal system have worsened.

It will be possible to file another petition for mitigation of punishment for Aleksey Miretskiy no earlier than six months, two months before the expiration of his imprisonment in the colony.

Court hearings on a similar petition against Alexei Budenchuk are postponed indefinitely.

The Ulyanovsk Regional Court, having considered the appeal against the refusal to replace the unserved part of the sentence to Konstantin Bazhenov with a fine, confirms the decision of the previous court, the believer will remain in the colony for the time being. Bazhenov's court-appointed prison term expires in June 2021.

On the same day, the administration of the Orenburg colony No. 1 transferred Gennady German and Roman Gridasov to a detachment with more difficult conditions of detention.

Court hearings on replacing Gennady German's unserved part of the sentence with a fine were postponed to January 18, 2021.

Due to the epidemiological situation, communication with prisoners takes place by phone through a glass partition. Previously, they lived in one barracks, but recently Roman and Gennady were transferred to another, with worse conditions of detention. Everyone has good relations with the prisoners of the colony. They are unable to communicate with their wives as often as they would like due to problems with payphones.

All believers suffered from viral diseases. Gennadiy has been missing his sense of smell and taste for more than a month. Alexey Budenchuk is worried about his family, who are faced with a series of life troubles.

Letters of support help believers maintain a positive attitude. Due to the tight schedule, it is not always possible to respond quickly to letters.

After serving his full sentence, Felix Makhammadiev leaves penal colony No. 1 in Orenburg. He is placed in the Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons, located in the village of Alabaytal (Orenburg Region), because after the verdict his Russian citizenship was revoked and he is subject to return to his country of birth. This happened due to the fact that for his faith he was found guilty under an "extremist" article.

After serving his full sentence, Feliks Makhammadiev leaves penal colony No. 1 in Orenburg. Friends sewed him a purple heart from fabric as a gift.

Felix is placed in the Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons, located in the village of Alabaytal (Orenburg Region), because after the verdict his Russian citizenship was revoked, and he is subject to return to his country of birth. This happened due to the fact that for his faith he was found guilty under an "extremist" article.

The Belyaevsky District Court of the Orenburg Region decides to leave Felix Makhammadiyev in the Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons until February 28, 2021. During this time, documents must be prepared for his deportation from Russia.

After leaving the deportation center in the Orenburg region, Feliks Makhammadiev arrives in Tashkent, where his wife is already waiting for him.

The administration of correctional colony No. 3 in the Ulyanovsk region writes out another incentive to Konstantin Bazhenov, which becomes the seventh - for active participation in the life of the institution and work on the improvement of its territory.

Judge of the Orenburg Regional Court Tatyana Pazhdina leaves unchanged the decision of the court of first instance on the refusal of Roman Gridasov to replace the unserved part of the term with a fine.

The Orenburg Regional Court refuses to satisfy the appeal against the decision of the Central District Court of Orenburg, which did not agree to replace the believer's unserved part of the sentence with a fine.

The administration of correctional colony No. 3 in the Ulyanovsk region writes out the eighth incentive to Konstantin Bazhenov.

Konstantin Bazhenov has a 3-day long meeting with his wife, whom he has not seen for 13 months. She says that in the store on the territory of the colony where Konstantin works, he is very much appreciated as a hardworking, responsible and honest person. The employees of the store are impressed that he does not steal the goods. "We've never had anything like this," they share.

Konstantin's prison term ends approximately in June 2021.

The Dimitrovgrad City Court of the Ulyanovsk Region satisfies Konstantin Bazhenov's repeated petition for parole.

Konstantin Bazhenov leaves the colony in Dimitrovgrad ahead of schedule after more than 3 years of imprisonment, but law enforcement officers again detain the believer. Bazhenov is sent to a deportation center because his Russian citizenship has been revoked due to criminal prosecution. The believer will be deported to the territory of Ukraine.

Konstantin Bazhenov, expelled from Russia, together with his wife Irina, arrive on the territory of Ukraine, in the city of Kramatorsk.

Alexey Budenchuk is leaving a penal colony in Orenburg after more than 3 years in prison.

Gennady German and Roman Gridasov are released, having fully served the 2 years assigned to them. At the entrance to the Orenburg colony, they are greeted by family members, friends and acquaintances who came from Saratov 800 kilometers away.

Aleksey Miretskiy is released after serving the 2 years in prison assigned to him by the court.

The hearing in the First Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Saratov is postponed, as the judicial board satisfies the petition for the recusal of 2 judges - they previously participated in the consideration of the case of another believer, Rustam Seidkuliev.