Criminal prosecution of six Taganrog Jehovah's Witnesses has been terminated

It became known that on December 14, 2016, the criminal case against six Jehovah's Witnesses from Taganrog (Rostov Region) was terminated on rehabilitative grounds. This criminal case was an exact repetition of the sensational "Case of Sixteen", which has been heard in the courts for about four years and on which a guilty verdict was passed (at present, believers and their defenders are appealing it to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation).

Back in 2011, six believers, as well as sixteen, were caught praying and reading the Bible and regarded this as "extremist activity" on the grounds that the court had previously liquidated a legal entity - the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses "Taganrog". The liquidation of the legal entity did not mean that believers were deprived of the right to freedom of religion. After many years, it became clear to the investigation that there was no corpus delicti in the actions of the accused. Now believers must return the Bibles and other personal property seized from them during searches in 2011, and two of the accused, 67-year-old spouses Vladimir and Svetlana Chesnokov, will also have to unblock their bank accounts, which contain their modest retirement savings.