The Bryansk Court Confirmed the Conviction of 4 Jehovah's Witnesses From Novozybkov, But the Believers Will Remain Free

On October 28 Bryansk regional court upheld the conviction of Jehovah's Witnesses from Novozybkov. Vladimir Khokhlov, Eduard Zhinzhikov, Tatyana Shamsheva and Olga Silaeva remain free because they have already served their sentences in investigatory isolators. They do not admit guilt in extremism.

Criminal proceedings against four Novozybkov residents began in June 2019. After a series of raids, Tatiana Shamsheva and Olga Silaeva were the first to be imprisoned. Four months later, criminal proceedings were instituted against Vladimir Khokhlov and Eduard Zhinzhikov. Tatyana and Olga spent 8 months in detention; Vladimir and Eduard were in detention for almost a year. In September, a court sentenced the believers to imprisonment, but since they had already served their sentence, they were released in the courtroom.

The defense appealed the court decision because the believers had not committed any crime. The prosecutor's office, although initially asking for an increase in prison sentences, agreed to the verdict. The Judicial Collegium of the Bryansk Regional Court consisting of Alexander Sidorenko, Andrey Rossolov and Alexander Ryabukhin upheld the verdict of the previous court.

Olga Silaeva, Tatyana Shamsheva, Vladimir Khokhlov and Eduard Zhinzhikov in the courtroom. Bryansk. 28 October 2020

Speaking at the appeal hearing on October 28 believers insisted on their innocence and noted that decision of Novozybkovsky court was a manifestation of discrimination on religious grounds.

"The court considered it a crime that I watched different religious videos, listened to religious songs, discussed religious topics", - Olga Silayeva stated. But when examining these materials in court it was clearly seen that all this encourages only to show love, compassion for people [...] and love is completely opposite to extremism".

"The error of the investigation is that the concepts of 'Jehovah's Witnesses' and 'Jehovah's Witnesses Management Center in Russia' are not different," Tatiana Shamsheva said, stressing that the court banned legal entities, but not religion. - After the coming into force of the court decision of April 20, 2017 should I stop being one of Jehovah's Witness? Should I stop reading the Bible, pray, talk to others about your beliefs, change your lifestyle? If I don't pray, read the Word of God, what kind of a believer am I?"

The international community, Russian human rights activists believe that the prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is nothing more than religious persecution. According to the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to do with extremism.