The Court in Cherkessk Sentenced Yelena Menchikova, a Disabled Person of the II Group, to Five Years of Suspended Sentence for Talking About the Bible

On December 16, 2021, Judge of the Cherkesskiy City Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Din-Islam Chotchaev, found 57-year-old Yelena Menchikova guilty of extremism and sentenced her to 5 years of probation suspended sentence with the payment of all legal costs only for talking about the Bible.

In her last speech, the believer said: “My position in life is based on biblical principles, on high moral standards, where there is no place for extremism, violence or hostility. . . . In fact, I am accused of believing in God, that I remain Jehovah's Witness, that I remain loyal to my God. I am accused of communicating on religious topics with other people, more precisely, with my friends. The prosecution mistakenly calls the usual religious activities of a believer a crime.”

Yelena Menchikova is an architect by profession. For about 30 years she has been a disabled person of the II group. Because of the criminal prosecution, her chronic diseases have worsened and new ones have appeared.

On December 16, 2019, in Cherkessk, the local FSB department conducted 10 searches of Jehovah's Witnesses, including Menchikova. Almost a year later, on November 12, 2020, she was searched again. As the investigator of the FSB of Russia for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic V. A. Drakin told the believer, on November 3, 2020, he initiated a criminal case against her for participating in the activities of an extremist organization. Four months later, in March 2021, he attracted Menchikova under another article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — the believer was charged with the involvement of a local woman in a banned organization. The Menchikova case was separated into a proceeding from the Albert Batchaev case. On December 6, 2021, he was sentenced to 6 years of suspended sentence.

The investigation of Menchikova's case lasted about six months. In the apartment where she lived with her daughter, wiretapping and other technical devices were installed. On April 30, 2021, the case was sent to court. According to the defendant, the case involved an informant who collaborated with law enforcement agencies, gave deliberately false testimony and even presented false material evidence. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to impose a sentence of 5 years in prison on the believer.

The court found Yelena Menchikova guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and involving other persons in it. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on her complete innocence.

On October 28, 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that the divine services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint rituals and ceremonies do not in themselves constitute a crime under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, despite the liquidation of their legal entities.