Photo: Dennis Christensen and his wife Irina

Photo: Dennis Christensen and his wife Irina

Photo: Dennis Christensen and his wife Irina

Criminal trial

April 24, 2018. Review of the hearing in the case of a Danish believer in Oryol

Oryol Region

On this day, in the court in the case of Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen, accused because of his religion, 2 prosecution witnesses were interviewed: an FSB officer and a woman who attended Jehovah's Witnesses services from 2013 to 2015.

An FSB officer said that in 2017 he monitored the building on Zheleznodorozhnaya Street in the city of Orel. He filmed Christensen greeting people in a friendly way in the yard. However, he does not know what happened inside the building. In addition, he once followed Christensen in a café, trying to record Christensen's conversation. He didn't hear what the conversation was about, and he's not sure if the sound was recorded. Finally, he participated in the search of the home of a family of believers. When asked by the lawyer why, contrary to the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the items that he seized during the search were not listed and described, the witness replied that he was only the executor and acted under the direction of another employee.

A local woman who was invited as a witness said that she attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses from 2013 to December 6, 2015. The witness could not give any testimony about Christensen's activities in the period after 2016, when the court liquidated the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The hearing is scheduled to continue on April 25, 2018.

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

Christensen
Dennis

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
Considered by the Court of First Instance:
Zheleznodorozhniy District Court of the City of Oryol
Judge:
Aleksey Rudnev
Court of Appeal:
Орловский областной суд
Court of Appeal:
Льговский райсуд Курской области
Case History
Back to top