Court in Khabarovsk Handed Down Record Harsh Sentences to a Group of Jehovah's Witnesses—Up to 8.5 Years in a Penal Colony

The longest terms of imprisonment since the liquidation of legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses were given to believers by Roman Chiskovskiy, judge of the Industrialniy District Court of Khabarovsk. The decision was handed down on June 20, 2024, after five years of litigation. For Nikolay Polevodov and Stanislav Kim, this is the second sentence for their faith.

Nikolay Polevodov was sentenced to 8.5 years in a penal colony, Vitaliy Zhuk — to 8 years and 4 months, and Stanislav Kim — to 8 years and 2 months. They were taken into custody in the courtroom. The court gave the women suspended sentences: 5 years for Tatyana Zhuk and Svetlana Sedova and 4 years for Maya Karpushkina.

"During the entire trial," said Vitaliy Zhuk, "I never heard what exactly in my words and actions constituted a crime of an extremist nature and what I should stop doing in order to not be considered a criminal." Nikolay Polevodov expressed a similar thought: "All the facts considered during this trial clearly prove that I am being prosecuted not for actual crimes, but for my religious views. The prosecution is trying to promote the idea that I committed a crime, without even providing evidence."

The Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against six Jehovah's Witnesses in November 2018. On the same day, riot police arranged a raid on believers who had gathered in a cafe for a friendly party. As a result, Kim, Polevodov and Zhuk ended up in a pretrial detention center, where they spent 2 months. They were then under house arrest for between 6 and 12 months.

The case went to court in July 2019. For a year Judge Vera Pismennaya examined the case materials and interrogated witnesses, but the basis of the charges was never clarified. The case was returned to the prosecutor's office, and 4 months later it again went to court.

The defense recused Judge Chiskovskiy, pointing to an obvious "bias against the defendants and the desire for a guilty verdict" at the stage of the judicial investigation. In their motion, the lawyers noted that, among other things, the judge limited the right of the accused to familiarize themselves with the evidence in the case, and also allowed himself to reprimand them in a raised voice, "perceiving" some motions "as personal insults." Roman Chiskovskiy refused his recusal.

Meanwhile, Stanislav Kim and Nikolay Polevodov were defendants in another criminal case for their faith. The Zheleznodorozhniy District Court of Khabarovsk gave them a 2-year suspended sentence "for participating in extremist activity," namely: for discussing the Bible and Christian teachings. This sentence is already considered to have been served.

At the time of publication of this text, out of 811 defendants in criminal cases for their faith, 170 were sentenced to imprisonment. 108 of them (over 63%) received sentences of 5 years or more; 9 people were sentenced to 8 years or more.