A Complaint Filed in Oryol Against a Court Order to Detain One of Jehovah's Witnesses

On May 29, 2017, an appeal was filed with the Judicial Board for Criminal Cases of the Oryol Regional Court against the court's decision to choose a preventive measure in the form of detention against a local resident, a foreign citizen Dennis Christensen.

The believer's lawyer considers the decision illegal and asks for it to be canceled. The court was obliged to indicate why a milder measure could not be chosen, but this was not done. As the only justification for choosing the most severe measure of restraint, the court indicated the fact that Christensen is a Danish citizen (according to the court, he can hide from the investigating authorities). The court rejected other unfounded arguments of the investigator about the need to detain the accused.

In addition, the court made such a harsh decision only on the basis of his religion, despite the fact that he has no previous convictions, has a permanent place of residence and work, where he is characterized positively, and also despite the fact that his behavior is fundamentally different from the behavior of those who seek to incite enmity, hatred and humiliation of human dignity. This means that the court discriminated on the basis of nationality and attitude to religion.

Extremism, or incitement to hatred, is alien to Jehovah's Witnesses because they follow the philanthropic precepts of Jesus Christ. They deny all accusations of extremism as grossly wrong.