A Rostov-on-Don sentence for practicing faith: one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Ruslan Alyyev, 33, was handed a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence

On 17 December 2020, Vladimir Strokov, judge of the Leninskiy District Court of Rostov-on-Don, found a law-abiding believer guilty of participating in the activities of a banned organization just because he observes the customs of his religion: he reads the Bible and recommends it to others. The verdict did not take effect.

Together with the suspended sentence, Ruslan Alyev was put on probation for 2.5 years with the obligation to report for registration once a month.

Ruslan Alyev, a Chinese language tutor, spent about a year and a half under house arrest after the Investigative Committee opened a case against him for praying, reading the Bible, and discussing religious issues. The case file includes testimony from a classified witness whose words the court accepted even without questioning him, depriving the defense of the opportunity to ask him questions. The prosecutor asked for three years of suspended sentence for Alyev with a probation period of four years.

In his final statement, "In the first century C.E. a young man of 33 years stood trial on charges of inciting rebellion against the state. The witnesses' testimonies contradicted each other, the prosecution could not prove his guilt, but the verdict, nevertheless, turned out to be guilty. That man was Jesus Christ. Today, in the twenty-first century, I, a young man of 33, stand before the court accused of a crime against the constitutional order and security of the state. When I hear the charge of undermining the constitutional order and threatening the security of the state, I wonder at the inconsistency and absurdity of the charge. It's like drawing a sheep with fangs and claws: on paper it's possible, but in life it's not."

I grew up imbibing the culture of at least three nations: Russian, Azerbaijani and Ukrainian," Aliyev said about himself in his last statement, "Each of them is dear and close to me equally. [...] Among my friends are quite a few people from various English-speaking countries in Africa and the Chinese. By blood I am an Azerbaijani. Everyone knows about the long-standing hostility between the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples, but my close friend is Armenian, he was a witness at my wedding. This attitude towards people of different nationalities, races, religions and social status has been formed in me, thanks to my religious upbringing... And now to hear accusations of fomenting ethnic or racial hatred or superiority over others is very surprising to me and to those who know me.

Ruslan Alyev is one of 16 Jehovah's Witnesses in the Rostov region who are charged under Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code because of their religion.

Law enforcers mistakenly mistake citizens' religion for participation in the activities of an extremist organization. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that decisions of Russian courts to liquidate and ban Jehovah's Witnesses organizations "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor do they contain restrictions or bans on individual practice of the aforementioned doctrine."