Aleksandr Sobyanin, Vladimir Poltoradnev and Vladimir Timoshkin with a supporting group near the courthouse. November, 2023.
On November 16, 2023, the Judicial Collegium of the Perm Territory Court approved the main part of the verdict against Vladimir Poltoradnev, Vladimir Timoshkin and Aleksandr Sobyanin. Believers will have to pay fines ranging from 494,000 rubles to 638,000 rubles. At the same time, the court overturned the decision to collect lawyer's fees from them and lifted the arrest from Sobyanin's car.
In August 2023, the court found the believers guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization for participating in religious meetings and "discussing with followers of [the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses] issues and topics of a religious nature."
In appeals against the verdict, those convicted for their faith drew attention to the fact that all their actions were completely peaceful and that they did not do anything related to extremism. "The court considered the usual doctrinal practice of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses not prohibited by law (gathering together for worship to God, singing religious songs, turning to God in prayer, reading the Holy Scriptures and unprohibited religious publications, carrying out preaching activities, etc.) prohibited activities, which contradicts the provisions of Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation," Vladimir Poltoradnev said in his complaint.
The believers drew the court's attention to the fact that according to to the appellate ruling of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of June 17, 2017, adopted in the case of the liquidation of legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, "the court of first instance did not assess the legality of the religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and the ways in which they were expressed," but only assessed the actions of specific legal entities. "Recognition of a legal entity as extremist is not tantamount to imposing a ban on a religious denomination with its inherent beliefs, spiritual terminology, the order of worship," says one of the complaints of believers.
Vladimir Poltoradnev, Vladimir Timoshkin and Aleksandr Sobyanin still insist on their innocence and can appeal the decisions of the courts in cassation.
