31.05.21 – Shi’ism in Russia
Full text only in Russian: Шиизм в современной России
26.05.21 – An appeal in Krasnodar upheld the sentence to Oleg Danilov – 3 years in prison for faith
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/260931.html
On May 25, 2021, the Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the conviction against 47-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Oleg Danilov from the village of Kholmskaya. For discussing the Bible, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison with restriction of freedom for a period of 1 year.
26.05.21 – Five Jehovists from Moscow suburbs sentenced to suspended terms.
Link to full text in Russian: http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=77314
A court in the Moscow region sentenced adherents of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization (which is forbidden in the R.F.) to suspended prison terms for participating in its activity, reported a representative of the oblast headquarters of the Investigative Committee (S.K.R.), Olga Vrady.
24.05.21 – In Chekhov, the Court gave four believers from two to six years probation for discussing the Bible
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/241938.html
On May 24, 2021, the judge of the Chekhov City Court of the Moscow Region, Irina Pantela, found four local Jehovah’s Witnesses guilty of extremism and assigned them a suspended sentence: Yuriy Krutyakov – 6 years with a probation period of 5 years; Zinaida Krutyakova – 2 years and 3 months with a probationary period of 2 years, Konstantin Zherebtsov – 2 years and 2 months with a probationary period of 2 years, Vitaliy Nikiforov – 2 years with the same probationary period.
25.05.21 – Khakassia supreme court confirms prison colony for 70-year-old woman because of her faith.
Link to full text in Russian: http://www.comcb.info/material.php?id=60ACA96B65FF7
The Supreme Court of the republic of Khakassia refused to grant Valentina and Roman Baranovsky their appeals against an unprecedentedly harsh sentence: incarceration for a woman Jehovah’s Witnesses who is 70 years old; her son received six years in a penal colony. This was reported on 25 May to Kasparov.ru by the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
25.05.21 – Moscow, Orthodox feast of Cyril and Methodius: the Cyrillic alphabet and the cultural mission
The two evangelizers, celebrated yesterday, used a “Christian alphabet” to unite different peoples, overcoming the prejudice between “Greeks” and “barbarians”. President Vladimir Putin Best sends best wishes to Patriarch Kirill.
21.05.21 – 54-year-old Vitaliy Popov received 3 years of suspended sentence.
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/211336.html
On May 21, 2021, Natalya Devyatko, a judge of the Lenin District Court of Novosibirsk, found Vitaliy Popov guilty under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 and part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation and financing of the activities of an extremist organization). He was sentenced to 3 years of suspended sentence.
21.05.21 – Cassation court in Piatigorsk finally acquits Jehovah’s witness Yury Zalipaev
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/210937.html
On 20 May 2021, in Piatigorsk, the Fifth cassation court of general jurisdiction finally confirmed the innocence of a Jehovah’s Witness from the city of Maisky, Yury Zalipaev. A panel of three judges under the presidency of Sergei Leontiev, with judges Svetlana Kharrasova and Andrei Zhelezny, completely refused the prosecutor’s cassation representation against the verdict of acquittal.
21.05.21 – Evangelicals unable to make away Anglican Church from ‘Music Hall’
Link to full text in Russian: https://abnews.ru/2021/05/21/evangelisty-ne-smogli-otnyat-u-myuzik-holla-anglikanskuyu-czerkov/
Smolny [i.e. St. Petersburg city hall—tr.] decided to leave the premises of the former Anglican church on Galernaia Street in the ownership of “Music Hall.”
The “Hosanna” Evangelical Christian Church sent to the government of St. Petersburg a request to transfer into its possession the complex of buildings that at the present time is occupied by the “Music Hall” theatre. The request appeared on the website of the Committee on Property Relations on 27 April 2021.
20.05.21 – Elderly, infirm woman convicted on extremism charges in Russia for being a Jehovah’s Witness
A 73-year-old Jehovah’s Witness in Russia’s Far Eastern Primorye region has been handed a four-year suspended sentence on extremism charges amid an ongoing crackdown on the religious group that has been banned in the country since 2017.
20.05.21 – Another Muslim activist arrested
Link to full text in Russian: http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=77285
The activity of adherents of an international religious association promoting extremist ideology has been terminated in Saratov oblast, the press service of the investigation department of the S.K.R. [Investigative Committee of Russia] for the region reports.
19.05.21 – Four Jehovah’s Witnesses in Cheliabinsk face trial
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/191928.html
On 18 May 2021, security forces conducted a search in the home of 44-year-old Pavel Popov from Emanzhelinsk, a city approximately 40 kilometers from Cheliabinsk. The believer was arrested, but later he was released on his own recognizance. A criminal case was opened based on part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the R.F. (arranging extremist activity).
18.05.21 – A Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced a 71-year-old woman to two years of suspended imprisonment for believing in Jehovah’s God
Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/181732.html
On May 18, 2021 the judge of Leninsky district court of Rostov-on-Don Alexander Osipov found Lyudmila Ponomarenko guilty of participation in extremist activity – this is how the court interpreted her religious beliefs. The believer was sentenced to 2 years of suspended imprisonment—the exact amount the prosecutor asked.
18.05.21 – Another Jehovah’s Witness added to Rostov’s total of convicts
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.kavkaz-uzel.media/articles/364028/
Today a court in Rostov-on-Don found the Jehovah’s Witness Liudmila Ponomarenko guilty of participating in an extremist organization and sentenced her to a suspended term of two years imprisonment.
18.05.21 – Russian customs seizes Jehovah’s Witnesses literature
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.hibiny.com/news/archive/238778/
Agents of Murmansk customs and the border control of the Russian F,S.B. for the western arctic district discovered on a boat printed material that is forbidden for import.
17.05.21 – RUSSIA: Widened ban on “extremists” exercising religious freedom
Religion Law amendments – which come into force in October – ban those the state considers – rightly or wrongly – to be extremists from participating in religious groups. They also ban commercial entities (such as bookshops) from including a religious affiliation in their name unless they were founded by a centralised religious organisation (or, for NGOs, get their approval).