Photo: Oryol Courthouse

Photo: Oryol Courthouse

Photo: Oryol Courthouse

Criminal trial

The trial of one of Jehovah's Witnesses from Denmark began in Oryol

Oryol Region

On February 19, 2018, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Oryol began a preliminary hearing in the criminal case of a Danish citizen, Dennis Christensen, a Jehovah's Witness by religion, accused of "organizing the activities of an extremist organization" (part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Since May 2017, Dennis has been detained in a local pre-trial detention center.

On the evening of May 25, 2017, the street near the building belonging to one of the believers was filled with cars and buses with armed masked men - riot policemen. Under the direction of an FSB investigator, the group entered the building and blocked the believers in it. Searches, interrogations and searches of houses continued until the next morning. Dennis Christensen was arrested.

There are no victims or victims in his case. No one ever heard words of enmity or hatred from him. All the guilt of this peaceful man lies in the fact that he professes the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, the registered organizations of which were liquidated by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

The main occupation of Dennis Christensen in Orel was the installation of wooden structures, he is married to a local resident, Irina Christensen, so he was in Orel for personal reasons, and not at the invitation of any organization.

Every 393rd inhabitant of Denmark professes the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, in Holbæk (Denmark) there is a major biblical center of this religion. The Royal Embassy of Denmark, seeking a milder measure of restraint for Christensen, provided assurances to the court that it would not assist him in leaving the Russian Federation. However, the court left him in custody for the entire period of the investigation.

The preliminary hearing will continue on February 21, 2018. Lawyers are requesting the exclusion of a number of inadmissible evidence from the case.

Case of Christensen in Oryol

Case History
Dennis Christensen is the first Jehovah’s Witness in modern Russia to be imprisoned only because of his faith. He was arrested in May 2017. The FSB accused the believer of organizing the activities of a banned organization on the basis of the testimony of a secret witness, theologian Oleg Kurdyumov from a local university, who kept covert audio and video recordings of conversations with Christensen about faith. There are no extremist statements or victims in the case. In 2019, the court sentenced Christensen to 6 years in prison. The believer was serving time in the Lgov colony. He repeatedly asked for the replacement of part of the unserved term with a fine. For the first time, the court granted the request, but the prosecutor’s office appealed this decision, and the prison administration threw the believer into a punishment cell on trumped-up charges. Christensen developed illnesses that prevented him from working in prison. On May 24, 2022, the believer was released after serving his sentence and was immediately deported to his homeland, Denmark.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Oryol Region
Locality:
Oryol
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, together with the others he conducted religious services, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation” (with reference to the court’s decision on the liquidation of the local organisation of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11707540001500164
Initiated:
May 23, 2017
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate of Russia for the Oryol Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-37/1
[i18n] Рассмотрено судом первой инстанции:
Zheleznodorozhniy District Court of the City of Oryol
Judge:
Aleksey Rudnev
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Орловский областной суд
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Льговский райсуд Курской области
Case History
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