Forced Labor for Faith in Jehovah God. Court of Appeal in Oryol Upheld the Verdict Against Dmitriy Ignatov

On October 10, 2024, the Oryol Regional Court denied the appeal of one Jehovah's Witnesses against the verdict of the court of first instance. Dmitriy Ignatov, 27, will serve a sentence for reading the Bible at a meeting for worship – 2 years of forced labor.

The believer considers the charge of participating in the activity of an extremist organization to be groundless. Addressing the panel of judges, he said: "Unfortunately, it seems that law enforcement officers deliberately distort the laws and, as a result, attribute to me something that I did not actually do." He added: "If you consider the charge that has been brought against me, it is basically like a Christmas ornament: shiny on the outside, but empty on the inside. There are a lot of scary words in it, but there is no concrete evidence."

In his appeal, Ignatov pointed out that the verdict did not provide evidence of an unlawful motive and intent: "The court did not answer the question: what public danger should I have been aware of, in praying to God with others, reading the Bible, discussing various topics beneficial for society, for example, gratitude?"

The sentence against Ignatov that has entered into force is already the fifth in the Oryol Region since 2017. During this time, eight Jehovah's Witnesses were prosecuted, four of them were sentenced to long terms in a penal colony.