Photo: Arkadya Hakobyan (Prokhladny, 2018)

Photo: Arkadya Hakobyan (Prokhladny, 2018)

Photo: Arkadya Hakobyan (Prokhladny, 2018)

Criminal trial

A 70-year-old believer is expected to be sentenced in Kabardino-Balkaria on December 27

Kabardino-Balkaria

Arkada Hakobyan will be sentenced in the Prokhladnensky District Court on December 27, 2018. Earlier, on December 21, the arguments of the parties were held in his case, and he himself made the last word. The prosecutor asked for a 3-year suspended sentence. The believer insists on his complete innocence.

A suspended sentence means that if during this period Arkadya Hakobyan is seen in something that the court regards as extremist activity or other crime, or failure to fulfill the imposed obligations (not to change his place of residence, to appear for registration, not to visit certain places), then the believer will go to the colony. Therefore, any conviction would be a substantial violation of human rights.

Arkadya Hakobyan was prosecuted under Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The prosecution relies on the testimony of witnesses that Arkady Hakobyan made a speech to fellow believers, in which he allegedly spoke derogatorily about representatives of other religions. The defense insists that Hakobyan did not make a speech at all on the specified day. The prosecution does not have an audio or video recording of Hakobyan's speech. It is also significant that the video recordings from the surveillance cameras were seized by law enforcement officers and destroyed. Moreover, there is evidence in the case that the witnesses were not present at the service on the day they indicated. Finally, the court-appointed psychological and linguistic examination of the testimonies came to the conclusion that there are no signs of propaganda of the inferiority of citizens in the words attributed to Arkada Hakobyan.

Law enforcement agencies had no complaints against Hakobyan until the security forces launched a campaign in Russia to harass Jehovah's Witnesses on the basis of far-fetched accusations.

The announcement of the verdict will begin on December 27, 2018 at 16:00 in the Prokhladnensky District Court at the address: Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Prokhladny, K. Marx St., 36.

Case of Akopyan in Prokhladny

Case History
In the late 1980s, Arkadya Hakobyan, his wife and three children fled ethnic cleansing in Azerbaijan. More than 25 years later, as a peaceful elderly man, Arkadia became a victim of religious repression. In June 2016, a criminal case was opened against him for a public speech in which he allegedly humiliated the dignity of followers of other religions. In May 2017, hearings began in the Prokhladnensky District Court, during which it turned out that the testimony of witnesses underlying the case was false, and the expert’s opinion was replete with errors. The prosecutor demanded 3 years of probation for the believer. In December 2018, Judge Oleg Golovashko sentenced the believer to 120 hours of compulsory labor. In March 2019, the Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic overturned the conviction. Hakobyan was cleared of all charges.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Kabardino-Balkaria
Locality:
Prokhladny
Court case number:
73
Initiated:
June 11, 2016
Current case stage:
case dismissed
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-7/18
[i18n] Итог дела:
дело прекращено, Аркадя Акопян считается несудимым
[i18n] Расследовалось:
МРСО СУ СК РФ по Кабардино-Балкарской Республике
[i18n] Рассмотрено судом первой инстанции:
Прохладненский районный суд Кабардино-Балкарской Республики
Judge:
Олег Анатольевич Головашко
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Верховный Суд Кабардино-Балкарской Республики
Case History
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