The Detention of Believers From Dagestan Was illegal. This Was the Ruling of the Fifth Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk

The confusion on the faces of prosecutors on September 21, 2020 was caused by the decision of the Fifth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction that the detention of of four Jehovah's Witnesses from Makhachkala was illegal. Three men and one woman spent twelve months in the pre-trial detention center and have already been under house arrest for four months.

In June 2019, in four cities of Dagestan, masked and armored FSB officers armed with automatic rifles invaded 13 houses of believers. Peaceful law-abiding Makhachkala residents - Maria Karpova, Arsen Abdullaev, Anton Dergalev and Marat Abdulgalimov - were sent to prison by the Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala.

The Court of Cassation found illegal the extension of their preventive measure from January 27 until May 27, 2020. It is noteworthy that in March 2020 this Fifth Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk had already granted a complaint about the extension of the arrest of Makhachkala residents Karpova, Dergalev, Abdulgalimov and Abdullaev. As a result, 2.5 months later they were released from the pretrial detention center under house arrest.

And this was not the first cassation decision on the arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses. Thus, in December 2019, the Eighth Court of Cassation overturned an appeal decision on the detention of believers of Kemerovo Britvin and Levchuk, and later, in September 2020, this court declared illegal the extension of the detention of Novosibirsk resident Saveliev.

These cassation decisions clearly demonstrate that district and appellate courts in Jehovah's Witnesses cases only listen to the opinion of the investigating authorities and do not go into detail. As a result, dozens of believers spend many months in jail or under house arrest until conscientious investigators or judges understand that they do not pose a threat to society and the state. The courts of first instance are obliged to examine whether there are facts that justify the appointment or extension of a detention. The fact that a person practises the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not sufficient to warrant arrest and detention. As a rule, the investigation cannot present facts of extremist statements or actions by Jehovah's Witnesses to the courts.

Cassation courts of general jurisdiction are an innovation in Russian legal proceedings. Cassation courts of general jurisdiction started their work on October 1, 2019. A total of nine cassation courts were established in Saratov, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Pyatigorsk, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo and Vladivostok.