The Cassation Court in Kemerovo Did Not Change the Sentence Imposed on Yevgeniy Korotun From Seversk—Seven Years in Prison for His Religion

On March 16, 2023, the Eighth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction definitively upheld the conviction of Yevgeniy Korotun, who is one of Jehovah's Witnesses. In January 2022, he was sentenced to seven years in prison, and in May of the same year, this decision was upheld by the  appellate court.

Yevgeniy, a 52-year-old pensioner and father of a young child, has been behind bars for a total of about two and a half years. Now he is serving his sentence in a penal colony in Nizhny Tagil.

“Korotun and his family, along with several other Christian families, peacefully gathered at their home, read the Bible, prayed, and sang religious songs,” stated Yevgeniy’s lawyer. “This became the basis for the criminal prosecution of the believer.”

The European Court in its 7 June 2022 decision  on the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia expresses its position as follows: “The respondent State must take all necessary measures to secure the discontinuation of all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah's Witnesses, including by reference to the recently amended guidance by the Supreme Court of Russia and release all of Jehovah's Witnesses who have been deprived of their liberty.” (§ 285)