Unjust Verdicts

“I Was Convicted for My Faith in Jehovah God.” An Appeal in the Khabarovsk Territory Approved the Verdict Against Boris Yagovitov

Khabarovsk Territory

On December 22, 2022, the board of judges of the Khabarovsk Regional court chaired by Maksim Vergasov approved the sentence of Boris Yagovitov—5 years suspended with a probationary period of 3 years and restriction of freedom for 1 year and 7 months. The court considered it extremism to have conversations about the Bible.

The decision of the court of first instance was generally left unchanged, the court only made a small technical clarification to the operative part on the appeal of the prosecutor—the sentence of imprisonment is considered suspended, and the sentence of restriction of freedom is not suspended.

Yagovitov filed an appeal against the verdict; he does not agree with the verdict. He stated: “In fact, I was convicted for my faith in Jehovah God and for attending meetings for worship; I am judged because I love to read the Bible and discuss it with friends, because I love God and people, do good deeds and have lived this way for half of my life. And I will continue to live this way because it's my choice, my personal beliefs, and it is my faith.”

Officers for the Center for Combating Extremism began operational search measures against Yagovitov back in 2018. In May 2021, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against the believer. Boris Yagovitov and his wife, Natalya, were detained and taken for interrogation while they were walking in the city park in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. As a result, the believer spent 7 months under house arrest and 9 months in detention. In December 2021, the case went to court. As evidence of Yagovitov's "crime", the prosecution cited the testimony of a certain Baleichuk, who, after several conversations with the believer, approached the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and agreed to inform them about the activities of the believers. The court found the believer guilty of extremism only because he had met with his friends to read the Bible.

The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Taganrog LRO and Others v. Russia of June 7, 2022 states: “Respect for religious diversity is undoubtedly one of the most important problems that one has to face today; for this reason, authorities should perceive religious diversity not as a threat, but as a source of enrichment of experience. In an effort to suppress the religious activity of Jehovah's Witnesses in this way, the Russian authorities did not act in good faith and violated the duty of the state to observe neutrality and impartiality in relation to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses”.

The case of Yagovitov in the village of Solnechnoye

Case History
In June 2021, security forces detained Boris Yagovitov and his wife while walking in a park in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. It turned out that the investigative authorities opened a criminal case against the believer because he is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. His house in the village of Solnechny was searched, after which Yagovitov was interrogated, kept in detention for 2 days, and then placed under house arrest. The key evidence of his guilt is the testimony of the informant Baleichuk, who kept hidden records of meetings for worship and conversations about the Bible. In December 2021, the Yagovitov case went to court. At the first hearing, Judge Pavel Nesterov sent the believer to a pretrial detention center. In February 2022, the case was returned to the prosecutor’s office to remove violations. Four months later, the case was retried. The prosecutor asked that the believer be sentenced to 5 years in a penal colony. In October 2022, the court gave Yagovitov a 5 year suspended sentence with a probationary period of 3 years and restriction of freedom for 1 year and 7 months. The appeal upheld this verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Khabarovsk Territory
Locality:
Solnechny
Suspected of:
According to the investigation, "deliberate, in compliance with conspiracy measures, the involvement of new members in the composition ... extremist organization, as well as participation in ongoing events - a meeting of its members, which is a rite associated with the religious doctrine of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses."
Court case number:
12102080007000026
Initiated:
May 14, 2021
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1.1), 282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-99/2022 (1-98/2022; 1-23/2022; 1-248/2021)
Court of First Instance:
Солнечный районный суд Хабаровского края
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Алёна Столярова
Case History
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