Photo: Valery Moskalenko
In Khabarovsk, the prosecution requested 3 years in prison for reading a passage from Christ's Sermon on the Mount. The verdict will be announced on September 2
Khabarovsk TerritoryOn August 30, 2019, speaking in a debate in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Khabarovsk, Assistant Prosecutor Anatoly Grigorenko announced that Valery Moskalenko, who has been in jail for 13 months, should be sent to a general regime colony for 3 years just because he professes faith in Jehovah God. Before the pre-trial detention center, Valeriy lived with his elderly mother and provided her with daily care, which she desperately needs. Read the chronicle of the process.
An episode of Moskalenko's life, which the local FSB considered a crime, was a meeting of friends in the conference room of the hotel, during which he read the words from the Gospel: "Learn from the lilies of the field how they grow: they do not work and do not spin, but I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory did not dress like any of them. If God dresses the plants of the field in this way, which are there today and will be thrown into the furnace tomorrow, then will He not clothe you, you of little faith? So never worry and say, 'What should we eat?' or 'What should we drink?' or 'What should I wear?'" Moskalenko explained to the court that his comments on the Sermon on the Mount were exclusively peaceful. He talked about how to overcome worries about economic difficulties.
Lawyers spoke in the debate of the parties. At the end of the debate of the parties, the defendant addressed the court with the last word, after which the court will retire to the deliberation room for sentencing.