Vyazemsky-Based Yegor Baranov Received a Five-Year Suspended Sentence for Holding Discussions About the Bible

On June 6, 2022, the judge of the Vyazemsky District Court of the Khabarovsk Territory, Kseniya Matvievskaya, sentenced 21-year-old Yegor Baranov to 5 years of suspended sentence. She found him guilty of participating in the activities of a banned organization and involving other persons in it.

Yegor Baranov was detained in May 2020 after searches in Vyazemsky. That same morning, armed FSB agents aggressively broke into the home of another believer, Yen Sen Li. The day before the searches, the investigation department of the FSB of Russia for the Khabarovsk Territory opened a criminal case against Baranov and Li.

Baranov spent almost six months in a pre-trial detention center, and all this time he did not have the opportunity to receive letters of support. This was due to the decision of the FSB investigator S. V. Nemtsev to seize all incoming correspondence. In the first four months alone, the number of letters reached 1200. Shortly before his release from the pre-trial detention center, about 2500 letters were given to Yegor under the ban on certain actions. The investigator continued to study the remaining letters, intending to attach them to the charges. The defense considered this as a way of influencing the arrested person in order to force him to give the testimony necessary for the investigation.

The investigation of the criminal case lasted more than 8 months. In February 2021, the case went to court. During the court hearings, it turned out that the written testimonies of some witnesses were completely or partially untrue. These witnesses also drew the court's attention to psychological pressure and threats from law enforcement officers. For example, a key prosecution witness completely refuted the testimony signed during the preliminary investigation. She stated that she gave them under pressure: FSB investigator Kuznetsov and FSB officer Svetachev threatened her with deprivation of parental rights.

Although there is not a single victim in the case, prosecutor Natalya Ozhogina asked the court to sentence Baranov to 6 years in a penal colony and 1.5 years of restriction of freedom.

In January 2022, during the period of court hearings, 69-year-old Yen Sen Li, the second defendant in the criminal case, died of COVID-19 at the stage of the trial. The criminal case against the believer was dropped.

The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. Yegor Baranov insists on his complete innocence.

In the Khabarovsk Territory, 24 Jehovah's Witnesses are persecuted for their faith. Four of them have already received suspended sentences ranging from 2 to 4.5 years, and one was given a large fine.

Despite numerous calls from human rights activists and clarifications from the Plenum of the Supreme Court, harsh sentences continue to be handed down in Russia for the peaceful religious activities of believers.