The Сassation Court Upheld an Unprecedented Harsh Sentence Against Anna Safronova, One of Jehovah's Witnesses From Astrakhan, Because of Her Faith<br>

On February 21, 2023, the Fourth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in the city of Krasnodar upheld the ruling of the appellate court and the sentence—six years of imprisonment—against 57-year-old Anna Safronova.

In January 2022, the Trusovsky District Court of Astrakhan found Anna Safronova guilty of extremism for her faith in Jehovah God. According to the court, her actions in the joint profession of faith served as the grounds:  participation in religious services where prayers were said, religious songs were sung, and the Bible was read. The prosecution did not provide any evidence of extremist statements or calls for violence, hostility or the overthrow of the constitutional order of the government. In April, the Astrakhan Regional Court upheld this verdict.

In two years of being persecuted for her faith, Anna Safronova experienced two searches, house arrest and imprisonment in a temporary detention facility and a pre-trial detention center. She has been in a penal colony for about a year already. Despite the harsh sentence and separation from her 82-year-old mother, her son and her friends, Anna has not lost her composure and even encourages her loved ones  through her letters and poetry and during their prison visits.

With respect to Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, the ECHR stated in its decision of June 7, 2022: “By holding the applicants criminally liable, simply for continuing religious services, the Russian authorities imposed a disproportionate and unjustifiable burden on the exercise of their freedom of religion and association.” (§ 260)