July-August 2018. Review of the hearing in the case of a Danish believer in Oryol

In July and August 2018, a total of 14 court hearings were held in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Oryol in the case of Danish citizen Dennis Christensen, who faces up to 10 years in prison (under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) solely on the grounds that he professes the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The case is being heard by Judge Alexei Rudnev.

A summary of the hearings on July 2, 3 and 4, 2018 was published earlier.

On July 9, the defense re-filed a motion to interrogate witnesses who had left the Russian Federation for permanent residence. At the same time, the court was provided with information about the cities where these persons were staying. The presiding judge announced that the petition would be considered later after checking the possibility of fulfilling such a request. The court then proceeded to wiretap Christensen's telephone conversations, which the FSB had controlled for a long time, behind closed doors. All those present were asked to leave the meeting room.

On August 7 and 8 , the hearing was devoted to a review of the case materials. The defense drew attention to multiple violations and misinterpretations made by the investigation during the collection of materials.

On July 10, 11, 30, 31 and August 1, the meetings were held behind closed doors, as telephone conversations between Dennis Christensen and other Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel were examined. At the same time, on July 30, the court once again extended the period of detention of Dennis Christensen (until November 1, 2018 inclusive).

On August 13 and 14, the written materials of the case, in particular, the results of the searches, were examined. The court drew attention to the fact that various translations of the Bible were seized from believers, including the Synodal translation of the XIX century and the Modern Translation. Dennis Christensen explained that it should not be surprising that believers have different Bibles, since Jehovah's Witnesses, as Bible students, use different translations of the Bible.

The decisions of the courts on the recognition of the literature as extremist were studied, since the investigator attached to the case file the decisions of the courts on those publications that were found during the searches. The lawyers drew the court's attention to the fact that for all these publications, either the date of the court decision or the date of entry into the FSEM refers to the time after the period imputed to Christensen. In addition, both the court and the prosecution were interested to read on the basis of what ridiculous arguments the courts recognized this or that publication as extremist. The revival was caused by the fact that the Bible in the New World Translation was recognized as extremist material on the basis of an examination carried out by a mathematics teacher.

On August 15, from 3:30 p.m. to 7:35 p.m., the Oryol Regional Court, composed of Judge Igor Paukov, considered an appeal against the extension of Dennis Christensen's detention. Judge Paukov had already considered the first appeal against Christensen's initial detention earlier in June 2017, as a result, he did not consider it possible to apply a milder measure of restraint.

The court rejected the petition for the discovery of material evidence - audio recordings of Christensen's conversations with his father and a conversation in a café with Oleg Kurdyumov (later interrogated as a secret witness). The court did not bother to explain the reasons for the decision. At the same time, it was this evidence that confirmed Christensen's lack of desire to go abroad in order to escape from the court, a key circumstance in deciding whether to choose or extend the period of detention. So, in a conversation with the father, the latter expressed concern about the possible imprisonment of his son, to which Christensen Dennis replied: "I want to try something new," after which the father said: "If you are put in prison, you can preach there." Also in these negotiations, Christensen has repeatedly stated his desire to stay in Russia, talking about leaving only in case of forced deportation by the country's authorities.

In the café, Kurdyumov tried three times during a conversation that lasted more than an hour to push Christensen to the topic of leaving Russia due to the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, to which Christensen each time said that he did not want to do so. However, Judge Paukov was not interested in all this information.

After being removed to the deliberation room for 10 minutes, Judge Paukov expectedly left Dennis Christensen in custody, rejecting the appeal.

At the time of the trial, it was the 447th day of Dennis Christensen's imprisonment.

The next court hearings in this case are scheduled in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Orel (Maxim Gorky St., 45-a) on September 4, 5, 25 and 26, 2018. Time: 10:30 a.m.