21 May 2020

RUSSIA: UN Working Group condemns detentions. Trial list

By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18

Full list of 93 people currently on trial for exercising the right to freedom of religion and belief as Jehovah's Witnesses. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has adopted a wide-ranging Opinion condemning the "ever-growing number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia who have been arrested, detained and charged with criminal activity on the basis of mere exercise of freedom of religion".

Three years after the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation as "extremist" of all Jehovah's Witness associations in April 2017, 93 people are on trial on charges of "continuing the activities of a banned extremist organisation" for exercising the right to freedom of religion and belief. During the coronavirus pandemic fewer raids have been made on homes, but have not stopped.

Demonstrator protests against the jailing of Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen, St Petersburg, November 2019

Tatyana Voltskaya (RFE/RL)

On 1 May 2020, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted a wide-ranging Opinion condemning the raids, arrests, detention and trials of 18 Jehovah's Witnesses, stating it "wishes to emphasize that none of them should have been arrested and held in pre-trial detention and no trial of any of them should take or should have taken place" (see below).

The Working Group noted that the 18 "are part of now ever-growing number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia who have been arrested, detained and charged with criminal activity on the basis of mere exercise of freedom of religion, a right protected by article 18 of the Covenant" (see below).

Court proceedings can be lengthy, and property – such as cars or money – can be seized as surety for any subsequent fines. Employers have fired at least 18 people from their jobs under pressure from state agencies, while other Jehovah's Witnesses are pressured to resign "of their own free will" (see below).

Investigators have also had more than 200 Jehovah's Witnesses' bank accounts blocked, and Jehovah's Witnesses then often encounter problems registering for benefits, buying phone sim cards, and registering and insuring cars (see below).

At least 20 of the 93 people on trial are in their sixties, seventies or eighties. Three of the 93 are currently known to be in detention, despite the risk of coronavirus infection (see below).

Stress relating to the raids and prosecutions is said to have been a factor in the deaths of a 64-year-old and a 61-year-old Jehovah's Witness, both of whom faced trial (see below).

In another case, the FSB security service apparently forced the treatment being given to a Jehovah's Witness in an Ulyanovsk intensive care unit to be stopped (see below).

Jehovah's Witnesses and others in both pre-trial detention and in prisons also face the risk of being tortured. No officials accused in three cases of torture of individuals detained for exercising freedom of religion or belief appear to have been arrested or put on criminal trial, against Russia's legally binding international obligations (see below).

The Russian authorities have also stripped Russian citizenship from three individuals convicted of exercising freedom of religion and belief (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2583), one Muslim in 2019 and two Jehovah's Witnesses in 2020. None of the three appears to be a citizen of any other country.

A full list is below of those facing criminal prosecution for "continuing the activities of a banned extremist organisation" following the 2017 Supreme Court ban on Jehovah's Witnesses whose cases have reached court for trial.

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemns detentions and trials

Sergey Yavushkin

Jehovah's Witnesses

On 1 May 2020, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an Opinion (A/HRC/WGAD/2020/10 (http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session87/A_HRC_WGAD_2020_10_Advance_Edited_Version.pdf)) in relation to 18 Jehovah's Witnesses, most of whom are currently on trial.

The list includes Aleksandr Solovyov, the first to be sentenced (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2493) after the nationwide ban. The others are: Vladimir Kulyasov, Denis Timoshin, Andrey Magliv, Valeriy Shalev, Ruslan Korolev, Viktor Malkov, Yevgeniy Dechko, Vyacheslav Osipov, Valeriy Rogozin, Igor Egozaryan, Sergey Melnik, Valentina Vladimirova, Tatyana Galkevich, Tatyana Shamsheva, Olga Silayeva, Aleksandr Bondarchuk and Sergey Yavushkin.

The Working Group noted that "it is a well-established norm of international law that pre-trial detention should be the exception and not the rule, and that it should be ordered for as short a time as possible". It found that "all 18 individuals were arrested and detained, at different dates and cities in Russia, merely for peacefully exercising their religious beliefs, including by having in their possession religious texts and Bibles, gathering together for worship with fellow believers, gathering money for the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses and worshipping".

The Working Group pointed out: "All the 18 individuals .. have been charged with various forms of ‘extremist activities'. Yet, in view of the Working Group, none of the activities described could be construed as such".

The Working Group stated that "all the activities that they engaged in were the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of religion under article 18 of the Covenant [the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]. These actions were the sole reason for the arrest of all the 18 individuals and the court proceedings against them."

"Moreover," the Working Group continued, "the private homes of all 18 individuals were subjected to searches during which Bibles and religious texts were seized, which the Working Group considers to be a further breach of article 17 ["Right to Privacy"] and 18 ["Freedom of thought, conscience and religion"] of the Covenant."

Aleksandr Bondarchuk (centre) and family

Jehovah's Witnesses

The Working Group "wishes to emphasize that none of them should have been arrested and held in pre-trial detention and no trial of any of them should take or should have taken place."

After condemning the trial process, the Working Group also observed that "all arrests were executed with the presence of large number of police officers and use of force" and this "was carried out with the aim of intimidating the 18 individuals in breach of their presumption of innocence as encapsulated in article 14 (2) ["Right to equality before courts and tribunals and to fair trial"] of the Covenant."

The Working Group then went on to note that "these 18 individuals are part of now ever-growing number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia who have been arrested, detained and charged with criminal activity on the basis of mere exercise of freedom of religion, a right protected by article 18 of the Covenant" [the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights].

43 trials with 93 defendants

Three years after the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation as "extremist" of all Jehovah's Witness associations in April 2017 (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2297), 93 people are on trial on charges of "continuing the activities of a banned extremist organisation" for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2572). They include two men in Khabarovsk who have already been convicted in a separate, overlapping trial, and six people in Penza who are on trial for a second time after an appeal court overturned their convictions.

The Investigative Committee, the FSB security service, the police, and the National Guard have carried out 897 raids on homes in 52 of Russia's 83 federal subjects (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2572), plus Crimea and Sevastopol, annexed by Russia in 2014 (where there have been three prosecutions resulting in two convictions so far).

During the coronavirus pandemic fewer raids have been made on homes. These have not stopped, however, with searches taking place recently in Primorye Region (three addresses on 12 May), Krasnodar Region (nine addresses on 29 April), and Ivanovo Region (four addresses on 15 April) (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2571).

Court proceedings can be lengthy. As well as the strong possibility of conviction, bringing with it a criminal record and a heavy fine or prison sentence, prosecution and trial can have wider consequences for defendants. Property – such as cars or money – can be seized as surety for any subsequent fines (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2572).

Employers have fired at least 18 people from their jobs under pressure from state agencies, while other Jehovah's Witnesses are pressured to resign "of their own free will" (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2572).

Investigators have also had more than 200 Jehovah's Witnesses' bank accounts blocked, and they then often encounter problems registering for benefits, buying phone sim cards, and registering and insuring cars (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2572).

Elderly people detained, coronavirus risks, FSB force hospital treatment stop

At least 20 of the 93 people on trial are in their sixties, seventies or eighties. The oldest defendant is 85-year-old Yelena Zayshchuk, whom the FSB security service took in for questioning after raiding her home in Vladivostok in April 2018. Her family "do not understand why they are persecuting an elderly and sick person who has done nothing wrong to anyone" (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2571), Jehovah's Witnesses commented.

Three of the 93 are currently known to be in detention, despite the risk of coronavirus infection. One of the cellmates of 66-year-old Yury Prokopyevich Savelyov (who has been in detention since November 2018) works in the detention centre, bringing him into contact with large numbers of people, and he does not have a mask, gloves or shoe covers. On 22 April 2020, however, Savelyov's detention was again extended regardless of his concerns about his "unfavourable sanitary-epidemiological situation". Court chairwoman Yelena Fetisova told Forum 18 that the judge had taken into account everything relevant and had no medical documentation suggesting that Savelyov's detention should not be extended, and that health protection measures in detention was not within the competence of the court (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2571).

Yury Geraskov, who died in Kirov at the age of 64, had not spent any time in detention, but "stress connected with persecution for his faith had negatively affected Yury's health", Jehovah's Witnesses noted. Viktor Malkov, who died in Smolensk at the age of 61, had spent eight months in detention and nearly four months under house arrest. He had suffered from coronary heart disease and kidney problems. "Viktor's health was largely influenced by poor conditions in pre-trial detention centres and the stress associated with criminal prosecution" (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2571), Jehovah's Witnesses noted.

Sergey Mysin is on trial in Ulyanovsk despite serious health concerns. Jehovah's Witnesses say he was discharged early from intensive care in October 2019 after FSB security service officers went to the hospital to insist on his treatment being stopped. Ulyanovsk Region FSB refused to answer any questions from Forum 18 (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2571).

Risk of torture

Jehovah's Witnesses and others in both pre-trial detention and in prisons also face the risk of being tortured. No officials accused in three cases of torture of individuals detained for exercising freedom of religion or belief appear to have been arrested or put on criminal trial (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2554), against Russia's legally binding international obligations.

Investigators in Surgut in February 2019 hooded, kicked, beat and tortured with electric shocks seven Jehovah's Witnesses detained after raids. One of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Sergei Loginov was re-arrested shortly after he called the Investigative Committee's hotline to report his torture (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2489). After 56 days in custody, he was released under specific restrictions on 11 April 2019 (not allowed to go out at night, communicate with others involved in the case, or use the telephone, internet, or post).

In contrast, two of the Investigative Committee officials implicated in the torture of the Jehovah's Witnesses were subsequently given awards, ostensibly for their work in 2018 (http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2489).

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