An Appeals Court Left Unchanged Birobidzhan-Based Tatyana Sholner's Court Sentence

On September 14, 2022, the Ninth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Vladivostok approved the sentence of 29-year-old Tatyana Sholner - 2.5 years of suspended imprisonment.

Sholner faced criminal prosecution for her faith in 2020, when FSB investigator Dmitriy Yankin opened 6 criminal cases for faith against women from Birobidzhan in one day. All of them were charged with participation in the activities of an extremist organization. The basis was the reading and discussion of the Bible, prayers and religious songs in the circle of friends.

The court of first instance ruled on June 25, 2021, then in December of the same year, the upheld the upheld the verdict. Tatyana Sholner still considers both of these decisions unjust, as she stated in her appeal: “Law enforcement agencies did not establish a single fact of my illegal activities … Not a single person has been identified who suffered from the activities of believers.” The decision of the court of cassation deprived Tatyana of the right to rehabilitation.

In total, the Ninth Cassation Court received complaints in 16 cases of Jehovah's Witnesses from the Jewish Autonomous Region. Four of them were sent for re-appeal.