Photo source: Kuzmafoto / depositphotos.com

Criminal trial

On December 12, six innocent people may be sentenced in Penza. Prosecutor's Office Asks for 3 to 7 Years in Prison for Faith

Penza Region

On December 10, 2019, the defense of six Jehovah's Witnesses demanded that the court fully acquit them for not being involved in any extremist activity. On December 12, the defendants will make their final statement. After that, Judge Roman Tanchenko will announce the verdict.

Earlier, on December 5, the prosecutor requested 7 years of real imprisonment for Vladimir Alushkin, 4 years of imprisonment for Andrey Magliv, Vladimir Kulyasov and Denis Timoshin for 4 years in prison, and 3 years of imprisonment for Tatyana Alushkina and Galiya Olkhova. For everyone except Vladimir Alushkin, the prosecutor proposes to replace the prison with forced labor.

Vladimir Alushkin, whom the prosecutor's office proposes to send to jail for 7 years, appealed his arrest to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. On October 1, 2019, the UN Working Group, having studied the explanations provided by the Russian authorities, promulgated its resolution: the arrest of believer Vladimir Alushkin was illegal! The UN regarded what was happening in Russia as "systemic and institutionalized persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses" (paragraph 65).

Case of Alushkin and Others in Penza

Case History
In July 2018, searches were carried out in Penza and criminal cases were initiated against 6 local Jehovah’s Witnesses. It turned out that since the fall of 2017, the believers had been under covert surveillance. Vladimir Alushkin spent six months in a pre-trial detention center. The UN Working Group officially recognized his arrest as arbitrary. In the summer of 2019, the case was submitted to the Leninsky District Court of Penza. During the hearings, it turned out that the protocols of the witnesses’ interrogations were partially falsified by the investigation, and one of the witnesses told the court that she had testified under pressure. In December 2019, Judge Roman Tanchenko sentenced Vladimir Alushkin to 6 years in prison, and Tatyana Alushkina, Galia Olkhova, Vladimir Kulyasov, Andrey Magliv and Denis Timoshin to 2 years suspended. In September 2020, the Penza Regional Court commuted the sentence of Vladimir Alushkin, replacing 6 years in prison with 4 years probation. For the rest, the court upheld the sentence - 2 years suspended. On December 9, 2021, the First Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction upheld the verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Penza Region
Locality:
Penza
Suspected of:
according to the investigation he participated in religious services, which is interpreted as participating in the activity of an extremist organisation (with reference to the decision of the Russian Supreme Court on the liquidation of all 396 registered organisations of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Court case number:
11802560015000075
Initiated:
July 11, 2018
Current case stage:
The verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Bessonovskiy Inter-district Investigative Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Penza Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1), 282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-110/2020 (1-167/2019)
Court:
Ленинский районный суд г. Пензы
Case History