Court of Appeal in Oryol Upheld the Sentence of 68-year-old Tatyana Piskareva - 2.5 Years of Forced Labor for Her Faith in Jehovah

The verdict against Tatyana Piskareva, sentenced to 2.5 years of forced labor entered into force – on May 16, 2024, the Oryol Regional Court did not satisfy her appeal. The believer has already been separated for 3.5 years from her husband, who was sentenced to 6 years in a penal colony on similar charges of extremism.

In March, the Sovetskiy District Court of the city of Oryol found Piskareva guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization for attending peaceful meetings for worship. According to the investigation, the believer acted out of religious "hatred and enmity." However, this was not proven in court. The verdict was appealed. "I worshipped my God Jehovah peacefully ... I did not prevent anyone from living their personal lives, no one was hurt ... I obeyed the laws of the country in which I live. And suddenly I was falsely accused of something I had never participated in," Piskareva said, addressing the court of appeal in her final statement.

"My completely legitimate conduct, aimed only at expressing my faith in ways typical of Jehovah's Witnesses around the world, was wrongly regarded by the court as illegal actions ... At the same time, the law does not consider practicing the religion, which the liquidated religious associations belonged to, including together with others, as a sign of extremism. Therefore, declaring a legal entity as extremist is not tantamount to imposing a ban on a religion," Tatyana explained.

In the Oryol Region, 8 Jehovah's Witnesses have already been prosecuted for their faith, 3 of them have been sentenced to imprisonment.