An Arkhangelsk Court Ordered Yevgeniy Yakku to Pay 780,000 Rubles for Bible Talks

On July 19, 2021, the judge of the Solombala District Court, Nikolai Bakov, convicted 41-year-old Yevgeniy Yakku, recognizing peaceful conversations about the Bible as extremism. The believer is obliged to pay 780,000 rubles. During the criminal prosecution, his mother suffered a stroke, and his elderly father died in Yevgeny's arms.

The believer insists on his complete innocence and can appeal the sentence. Speaking in court with the last word shortly before the verdict, Yevgeniy Yakku said: "I adhere to biblical principles, which are based on love for God and neighbor ... Jehovah's Witnesses and extremism are incompatible concepts, like black and white!"

The prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to 7.5 years in prison and 2.5 years of restriction of freedom.

The criminal case against Evgeniy Yakku was initiated on February 13, 2019. He was accused of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and of involving other persons in extremist activities. Later, investigator Roman Shagarov expanded the accusation by adding another part of the same article about the organization of extremist activity.

On the morning of February 18, 2019, the security forces invaded Yevgeny's home. After the search, he was taken away in an unknown direction, he returned only 2 days later. As it turned out later, the believer was in a temporary detention center. After that, Eugene Yakku spent 2 years and 5 months under the ban on certain actions. A special device was put on his leg - an electronic tracking bracelet. The believer recalls: "It felt like I was constantly on a leash, and it was emotionally overwhelming."

After the Yakku family was searched, Eugene lost his new job, which he was supposed to take that day. He got a job as a janitor, but after a while he was also suddenly fired from there without explanation. In April 2019, the believer was included in the state list of extremists. For the last 4 months, Yevgeniy has been working as a janitor for a small salary, and his wife Irina has been working as a cleaner to help her husband support and provide for the family financially.

Yevgeniy also noted: "Thanks to the persecution of the Investigative Committee, I was left without a job, all accounts were blocked, cars were arrested." When the court decided to arrest 2 cars, the owner of the property was not even invited. According to the investigator, the cars should have been arrested in order to ensure the execution of a possible sentence involving a fine.

Against the background of stress in connection with the criminal prosecution, Yevgeny's chronic illness worsened. Doctors also noted a sharp deterioration in the health of Irina, who has been suffering from an autoimmune disease for many years.

During the investigation, in April 2020, Yevgeny's mother suffered a stroke. His father did not leave the house for about 10 years due to illness. He needed constant care, so in November of the same year, the believer decided to move his parents to his place, but on the way, Eugene's father died in the car right in his arms.

During the trial, violations were revealed. One of the prosecution witnesses reported pressure from the investigator to fabricate testimony, but the investigator denied this.

Another prosecution witness, Theodosius Nesterov, a priest of one of the local churches, never met the defendant, but claimed that the magazines published by Jehovah's Witnesses "clearly contain a motive for inciting intolerance ... Although it's not on all pages and it's encrypted."

Religious scholar Sergey Ivanenko, in turn, drew the court's attention to the fact that the religious activities of Jehovah's Witnesses are not related to extremism and the decision of the Supreme Court of 2017 does not imply that believers do not have the right to continue to practice their religion together with others.

The Yakku family received letters of support from many caring people, including from the diplomatic departments of a number of countries. In February 2021, the believer's family received a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to a letter in which the wife of the accused, Irina, informed the minister about the criminal prosecution of their family and about the contradiction of what was happening with international law. The response states, among other things: "Members of a liquidated organization can independently practice a religious cult, including as part of religious groups that do not require registration."

In addition to Yevgeny Yakku, another resident of Arkhangelsk, 78-year-old Kaleria Mamykina , faced persecution for her faith in the region. In November 2019, the investigation closed the criminal case against her for lack of corpus delicti. The believer died of complications after the coronavirus in June 2021, without waiting for the results of her rehabilitation.