A verdict was passed on 6 believers in Ulyanovsk. All of them were sentenced to suspended imprisonment for terms up to 3.5 years

On October 8, 2020, the judge of the Zasviyazhsky District Court of Ulyanovsk, Galina Soshkina, sentenced 6 law-abiding local residents professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses to various terms of imprisonment suspended from 2 years and 2 months to 3.5 years. Until the verdict comes into force, they will be under recognizance not to leave.

Sergey Mysin was sentenced to 3.5 years of suspended imprisonment plus 10 months of restriction of freedom, his actions were reclassified under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. His wife, Natalia Mysina, was sentenced to 2 years and 2 months of suspended imprisonment plus 7 months of restriction of freedom. Mikhail Zelensky was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of suspended imprisonment plus 8 months of restriction of freedom. Andrey Tabakov was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months of suspended imprisonment plus 10 months of restriction of freedom. Aleksandr Ganin was sentenced to 3 years of suspended imprisonment plus 9 months of restriction of freedom. Khoren Khachikyan was sentenced to 2 years and 4 months of suspended imprisonment plus 7 months of restriction of liberty. The property of believers has not been confiscated, it has been seized.

The state prosecutor asked for a sentence of 3 to 7 years in a colony with the confiscation of savings and cars in the amount of 1.57 million rubles, which were seized. The believers themselves asked the court to fully acquit them.

Sergei Mysin told the court in his final statement: "Neither I, nor my family, nor my friends are extremists, and never have been. I have nothing to be ashamed of, and I am not guilty either before the law of my country, or before my conscience, or before the Creator, Jehovah God" (full text).

Andrei Tabakov told the court: "The indictment says that each of us committed a deliberate crime against the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the state. But I don't understand how exercising my constitutional right to have beliefs and share them with others can lead to such serious consequences for the state. I don't understand how you can call extremists people who, even at the cost of their own lives, reject any violence" (full text).

Khoren Khachikyan said: "I do not presume to teach those who undertook to eradicate the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, but there is one simple and very important feature: the stronger the persecution of a sincerely believing Christian, the stronger his faith becomes" (full text).