Yelena Menchikova near the courthouse in Cherkessk. November 2022
A Court in Cherkessk Reviewed Yelena Menchikova's Case and Found Her Guilty of Extremism Again for Talking About the Bible
Karachay-CherkessiaYelena Menchikova, 59, was found guilty again - on January 23, 2024, the judge of the Cherkessk City Court, Nauruz Shukurov, sentenced the woman with a disability to four and a half years suspended with a probation period of two and a half years because of her religion.
As Yelena noted, speaking in court, the charges boil down to the fact that she invited friends "to study the Holy Scriptures (Bible), consisting of collective singing of songs, prayers, and the study of religious articles." "I never imagined that hospitality in the Caucasus would turn out to be such a grave crime and that punishment would follow," the believer said. At the same time, the indictment does not contain a specific description of what manifestations of extremism, when and under what circumstances Menchikova allowed.
The persecution of Yelena on religious grounds has been going on since December 2019. The first sentence — five years suspended with payment of legal costs — was handed down to her in December 2021. Two months later, the appeal released the woman from paying court costs, and later the cassation sent the case for a new trial.
In Karachay-Cherkessia, four more of Jehovah's Witnesses have been prosecuted, and two of them have already received sentences for their faith. The world community calls on the Russian authorities "to drop charges and release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, as well as the right to peaceful assembly and association."
