Court in Krasnodar Territory Sentenced 60-year-old Vasiliy Meleshko to 3 Years in Prison for Talking About the Bible

The judge of the Abinsky District Court, Mikhail Ostashevskiy, considered the case of Vasiliy Meleshko in just two sessions and on August 11, 2021, sentenced him to 3 years in a general regime colony, considering his peaceful religious activities to be extremist. The believer was arrested and handcuffed to the pre-trial detention center of Novorossiysk.

Speaking in court, a resident of the village of Kholmskaya stated that he is Jehovah's Witness, but did not commit any crimes and has nothing to do with extremism. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed.

Early in the morning in April 2021, the armed forces came to search the house of the married couple Vasiliy and Zoya Meleshko. Electronic devices, personal savings and letters were seized from the believers, after which Vasiliy was taken for interrogation to Abinsk in a car without a motorcar plate. After the interrogation, the security forces took two staged photographs of the believer: one against the background of the former building for religious services of Jehovah's Witnesses, and the second at home at the table in order to "film the crime scene." Then Vasiliy was placed on recognizance not to leave.

The criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of a banned organization) against Vasiliy Meleshko was initiated by the Investigation Department for the Abinsky District of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Krasnodar Territory on March 31, 2021. After 4 months of investigation, the case went to court. The appointed attorney urged the believer to “confess guilt in the crime,” but the believer continued to insist on his innocence. In just two court sessions, the court considered the whole case and passed a guilty verdict on the believer.

Basil and his wife Zoya have been Jehovah's Witnesses for 30 years. During this time, up to the ban on legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, there were no complaints from the law enforcement agencies against them.

“The absurdity of the situation is obvious: for decades Meleshko, being Jehovah's Witnesses, led a law-abiding lifestyle and suddenly 'became' criminals. Not because they committed any real crime or harmed someone. The reason is that they are trying to ban Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia from doing the same thing that believers are perfectly legal in hundreds of countries around the world - reading the Bible together and talking about God, ”explains Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Vasiliy Meleshko became the fourth believer from the small village of Kholmskaya, Krasnodar Territory, sentenced to a real prison term for believing in Jehovah God. Earlier, the court sentenced 63-year-old Aleksandr Ivshin to 7.5 years in prison, he is serving time in Rostov-on-Don. Oleg Danilov, 47, was sent to a penal colony in Khadyzhensk for 3 years. 45-year-old Aleksandr Shcherbina was also imprisoned there for a similar period. Criminal cases against several other believers from the village of Kholmskaya are at the stage of court hearings.

The groundlessness of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses on the basis of religion has been repeatedly emphasized by Russian and foreign experts. In May 2021, the association of former prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp (Lagergemeinschaft Dachau) sent an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin condemning the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses.