Russia: Religious issues and persecution – Bimonthly Digest December 16-30
27.12.2024 – A believer from the Krasnoyarsk Territory received a three-year suspended sentence for praying to Jehovah God
JW – On December 26, 2024, Irina Ivanova, judge of the Nazarovsky City Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, found 60-year-old Pavel Chemrov guilty of extremism for saying prayers and reading religious literature. He was sentenced to 3 years of suspended sentence.
The believer insists on his innocence and can appeal the verdict in higher instances. In his final statement, he explained to the court that his “intention is for people to treat each other with love, kindness, respect and mercy, to always remain calm and to rely on God.”
27.12.2024 – Russian citizenship of another Jehovah’s Witness is revoked.
JW – On December 12, 2024, Andrey Tabakov, who had served a sentence for his faith, was forced to leave Russia—on October 30, 2024, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Ulyanovsk Region terminated his citizenship of the Russian Federation.
Andrey was born in Minsk in 1973. His father was in the military. The family often moved to different cities of the USSR, and later, when the head of the family retired, they settled in Ulyanovsk, in the hometown of the believer’s parents. In Russia, Andrey graduated from school, received a higher education, started a family and worked. Here, he and his wife have elderly parents and other relatives.
26.12.2024 – Arson of a mosque in Serpukhov
Sova – On the night of December 25, 2024, unknown attackers tried to set fire to the Nur Mosque on Pushechnaya Street in Serpukhov. The police found traces of soot at the scene, two “Molotov cocktails”, a trace of shoes. CCTV cameras recorded two young people who climbed over the fence near the place of arson, and then ran towards the railway tracks. One of the attackers was wearing a Santa Klus hat.
26.12.2024 – In Kuban, a priest of the Armenian Catholic Church was mitigated for “illegal missionary work”
Sova – At the end of December 2024, it became known that on September 6, the Lazarevsky District Court of Sochi fined the priest of the Armenian Catholic Church Mais Melikyan, a citizen of Armenia, for “illegal missionary work” and expelled him from Russia.
The court found him guilty under Part 5 of Art. 5.26 of the Administrative Code (implementation of missionary activity by a foreign citizen in violation of the requirements of the legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and religious associations) and imposed a penalty in the form of a fine of 35 thousand rubles with administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation.
19.12.2024 – Court in Izhevsk toughens sentence of two Jehovah’s Witnesses from Votkinsk — Believers sentenced to six years in prison
JW – At the beginning of the year, Sergey Gobozev and Mikhail Potapov received large fines for their faith, but on December 19, 2024, the Supreme Court of the Udmurt Republic imposed a harsher punishment on them – imprisonment. Potapov was arrested in absentia, and Gobozev was detained in the courtroom.
The case was heard in various courts over a period of 3 years and 3 months. The convicts believe that the prosecutor’s office has not been able to prove their guilt in organizing the activities of an extremist organization. During the court hearings, witnesses spoke about psychological pressure from investigators, among them Sergey Gobozev’s wife, Olga. At the trial, she called part of her testimony fabricated by the investigation.
19.12.2024 – Court imposes on seven believers from Pechora fines ranging from 200 to 600 thousand Rubles.
JW – On December 17, 2024, Judge Aleksandr Korovenko of the Pechora City Court of the Komi Republic fined seven Jehovah’s Witnesses, finding them guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization, participating in it, and financing it.
Considering the time spent under arrest, Gennadiy Polyakevich must pay 200 thousand rubles, and Gennadiy Skutelets — 250 thousand rubles. The court imposed fines of 600 thousand rubles on Nikolai Anufriev, Eduard Merinkov, Viktor Shchannikov, and Alexander Vorontsov. The verdict has not yet come into force and can be appealed.
20.12 2024 – Another Muslim prayer house was demolished in the Moscow region
Sova – On December 16, 2024, a court in the Moscow region decided to demolish a Muslim prayer house near the village of Kiovo in Mytishchi as an illegal construction.
The building was erected on a plot intended for a municipal cemetery, but the owner decided to change the type of its use and arranged a prayer house on it. This prayer house is not listed on the balance sheet of any registered Muslim organization.
20.12.2024 – Fined for citing Vatican, Scottish Episcopal texts
Forum 18 – A Moscow court fined an Anglican Christian three weeks’ average wage under Russia’s “gay propaganda” law for social media posts citing a Vatican declaration condemning “unjust discrimination” on the basis of sexual orientation and a Scottish Episcopal Church essay on equal marriage. This is the first known time a court imposed such a fine for sharing church documents. Amid ever-tightening laws for opposing Russia’s war against Ukraine, a Buddhist is on criminal trial and a Pentecostal Pastor in pre-trial detention (despite suffering a mini-stroke). Courts fined two religious leaders for violating the “foreign agents” law.
18.12.2024 – Aleksandr Serebryakov convicted for second time and given five-year prison sentence
JW- On December 13, 2024, the Savelovskiy District Court of Moscow convicted Brother Aleksandr Serebryakov and sentenced him to five years in prison. He was previously tried and convicted on August 8, 2022 and was given a six-year suspended prison sentence.
While Aleksandr was serving the first year of his suspended sentence, FSB officers again raided his home and arrested him. The next day, on September 20, 2023, authorities placed him in pretrial detention, where he remained until he was sentenced to prison.
18.12.2024 – The Church of Scientologists in St. Petersburg was recognized as an extremist organization
Sova – On December 17, 2024, the St. Petersburg City Court recognized the local Scientology Church as an extremist organization. The prosecutor’s office filed a corresponding lawsuit in court – the materials were registered on September 11, and the consideration of the case began in October.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the activities of the Scientological church of St. Petersburg were aimed at “inciting hatred and enmity, humiliating the dignity of persons singled out on the basis of belonging to social groups, carrying out calls for refusal to comply with public rules and laws”.
17.12.2024 – UN Human Rights Committee: Jehovah’s Witnesses brochures teaching “shunning” should not be banned
Bitter Winter – As American scholar James T. Richardson has noted, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, once again in their history, are creating legal precedent by submitting a number of cases to the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), which has jurisdictional powers with respect to the states that have signed and ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). These states include the Russian Federation (“Russia”).
On October 24, 2024, the HRC issued a decision recently communicated to the parties in the case “Vasilii Kalin, Robert But and Aleksandr Kreydenkov v. Russian Federation.” Kalin acted both as an individual and as Chairperson of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia at the time of the facts discussed in the decision. But and Kreydenkov are Jehovah’s Witnesses from Belgorod, Russia.
16.12.2024 – Raids of security forces in the prayer houses of Kommunarka and Reutov
Sova – On December 13, 2024, during Friday prayer, Rosgvardia and riot policemen arrived at the prayer house in Kommunarka (Moscow), located in a residential building on Edward Grieg Street. The premises are used by the local religious organization of Muslims “Unity”.
The security forces who arrived, having broken the prayer, checked the documents of the believers.
On the same day, a raid to identify migrants was held in a prayer house in Reutov near Moscow. The check lasted several hours. The holders of Russian passports were released as a result of the inspection. Administrative protocols were drawn up for believers who violated migration legislation.