Photo: Valery Moskalenko
A Khabarovsk Court of Appeal Replaced a Believer's 26 Months of Forced Labor with a Large Fine
Khabarovsk TerritoryOn November 5, 2019, the Khabarovsk Regional Court commuted the sentence of Valery Moskalenko, replacing forced labor with a fine of 500 thousand rubles for reading an excerpt from Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Taking into account 396 days in the pre-trial detention center, the court released him from paying this fine. The prosecution asked for 3 years in prison for him.
The verdict has entered into force. The court ruled to return to Moskalenko all the items seized from him during the search, including computer equipment, notebooks with personal notes, as well as printed publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, with the exception of one book included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
Earlier, on September 2, 2019, the court of first instance sentenced him to 2 years and 2 months of forced labor, as well as to restriction of freedom for a period of 6 months in the form of a ban on leaving Khabarovsk and the obligation to report to the inspection on a monthly basis.
The text of the appellate ruling in the form of a signed document is not yet available.
Moskalenko believes that criminal prosecution for believing in God is unacceptable. On December 18, 2018, his complaint "Moskalenko v. Russia" regarding his illegal detention was submitted to the European Court of Human Rights. Now Moskalenko intends to file a complaint with the ECHR against the conviction.