Unjust Verdicts

An Appeal Overturned Seversk-Based Aleksey Yershov's Initial Prison Term for Practicing One's Faith and Replaced It With a Three-Year Suspended Sentence

Tomsk Region

On April 7, 2022, a panel of judges of the Tomsk Regional Court chaired by Andrey Kaplyuk commuted the sentence of Aleksey YErshov from Seversk. Instead of 3 years in prison, the 69-year-old Jehovah's Witness was given 3 years of suspended sentence. The verdict has entered into force.

In July 2020, employees of the Investigative Committee and the FSB broke into the homes of five families of Jehovah's Witnesses at the same time and searched their homes for several hours. As in the case of 5 other believers from Seversk, the accusation of extremism against Aleksey Yershov was based on the testimony of Kira Klisheva, who collaborated with the FSB, and pretended to be interested in the Bible.

Throughout the investigation of the criminal case—almost 11 months—the believer was under house arrest. On January 19, 2022, immediately after the Severskiy City Court sentenced the pensioner to 3 years in prison, he was taken into custody, and he spent a month and a half in a pre-trial detention center awaiting an appeal.

Yershov still insists on his innocence. Now he can appeal the verdict in cassation.

The criminal prosecution of Russian Jehovah's Witnesses was condemned by the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the European Union and many other Russian and international organizations. The new clarifications of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia dated June 28, 2011 state that communal worship in itself does not constitute a crime under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which the security forces use as justification for the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Case of Ershov in Seversk

Case History
Since March 2020, Kira Klisheva, who portrayed an interest in the Bible, recorded the worship services of Jehovah’s Witnesses from her computer and handed them over to the FSB. Soon, employees of the Investigative Committee raided the house of Alexei Ershov, a former deputy of the city Council of People’s Deputies. In March 2021, the case against the pensioner was separated into a separate proceeding from the case of Yevgeny Korotun. Ershov was accused of participating in worship services, saying prayers and singing religious songs. In July 2021, the case was submitted to the Seversky City Court of the Tomsk Region, it was considered by Judge Yalchin Badalov. The prosecutor suggested that the court consider Yershov as an organizer, not a member of an extremist community, and sentence him to 5 years in prison. In January 2022, the court sentenced Yershov to 3 years in a penal colony. He was taken into custody in the courtroom. In April 2022, the court of appeal replaced the sentence with 3 years of probation.
Timeline

Persons in case

Yershov
Aleksey

Criminal case

Region:
Tomsk Region
Locality:
Seversk
Suspected of:
"took part in a closed conspiratorial meeting in the form of collective religious worship ... consisting of the playback of audio recordings and video recordings... the sequential singing of songs from a special collection of religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses and prayers to the God of Jehovah... explained to the other participants the religious materials demonstrated, and also said a prayer to Jehovah God, calling on the others to pray with him" (from the indictment)
Court case number:
12102690003000019
Initiated:
March 25, 2021
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department for the Closed Administrative Territory of the City of Seversk of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Tomsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-253/2021
Case History
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