Another Conviction for Faith in Birobidzhan. The Court Gave Anastasiya Guzeva 2.5 Years Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible

On August 19, 2021, the judge of the Birobidzhan District Court, Vasilina Bezotecheskikh, found the peaceful believer Anastasiya Guzeva guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and sentenced her to 2.5 years of probation, 2 years of probation and 1 year of restriction of freedom.

The believer did not admit her guilt. Turning to the court with the last word, she stressed: “Although I have been seriously charged, there are no victims of my actions, as is probably usually the case in criminal cases. There is no direct intent, no active actions, no socially dangerous acts, no humiliation of human dignity, no objective and subjective aspects of the crime, no facts that any of my actions have caused harm, damage, suffering to others. Therefore, I did not hide my eyes from shame and always came and went to court sessions with a clear conscience.” Anastasia Guzeva intends to appeal the verdict in the appellate instance.

Before the criminal prosecution, the believer worked at a music school, where she established herself as a responsible and non-conflict employee. Her husband Konstantin also worked there. When the caretaker, a former police officer, learned about the Supreme Court's decision regarding Jehovah's Witnesses, he called the Guzevs into his office and said: "You are extremists, and extremists have no place in a children's institution." First, Konstantin was fired, and later Anastasiya. The believer is perplexed: “According to the labor law, a person cannot be fired from his job just because of his religion. In fact, my husband and I faced religious discrimination. "

It all started with the fact that in May 2018, they came to the Guzevs with a search that lasted 10 hours. The police officer in charge of the task force said his relatives were Jehovah's Witnesses. Obviously, therefore, law enforcement officers behaved politely and carefully. Nevertheless, because of what happened, Anastasiya experienced severe stress and for a long time experienced panic when she heard a knock on the door.

In July 2019, a criminal case was opened for faith against Konstantin, and on February 6, 2020, Anastasiya became the accused. For six and a half months, the case against her was investigated by Denis Yankin, a senior investigator-criminalist of the investigation department of the FSB of Russia in the Jewish Autonomous Region. Since February 19, 2020, the believer has been under recognizance not to leave, and on February 27, 2020 she was included in the Rosfinmonitoring List of Terrorists and Extremists.

On August 19, 2020, the case went to court. The prosecution was witnessed by police officer Yuliya Zvereva, who also testified in at least 15 other trials against Birobidzhan believers. She admitted that she had not heard any extremist statements from any of them.

The court hearings in the Guzeva case lasted about a year. The prosecutor asked the court to sentence 41-year-old Anastasiya to 4 years in prison and 2 years of restraint of liberty. The prosecution did not present any concrete evidence that the believer participated in extremist activities. At the hearing, Guzeva remarked: “Video files were presented as 'evidence', which showed the study of the Bible and religious literature in the circle of fellow believers. The prosecution interprets these lawful actions as unlawful. But at all times, believers expressed their love for God by praying, gathering together to worship, studying and discussing the Holy Scriptures... All participants in the process could see firsthand that the deeds, words, thoughts, goals, motives of Jehovah's Witnesses are including mine, are directed only for good."

The persecution destroyed the usual way of life of a peaceful family and confused relatives, including Anastasiya's elderly mother. Nevertheless, relatives support the spouses. The Guzevs also appreciate the help that co-religionists provided throughout the persecution — they sent them letters of support, postcards, and helped financially.

During the judicial debate, Anastasiya emphacized that the Russian courts did not prohibit the professing and dissemination of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and, in fact, these beliefs are "the prevention of extremism".

A total of 23 Jehovah's Witnesses from the Jewish Autonomous Region have already been prosecuted for their faith. 16 of them, including Anastasiya's husband, Konstantin Guzev, were convicted and sentenced to various suspended sentences.

April 1, 2021 at the press conference “70th Anniversary of Operation North”. Lessons of repression "religious scholar Sergey Ivanenko emphacized:" The policy of forceful suppression of Jehovah's Witnesses, which has been carried out in the Russian Federation since 2017, is futile. This is evidenced by the lessons of Operation North and the analysis of the current situation, including the steadfastness of Jehovah's Witnesses in upholding their beliefs. It seems expedient, from the point of view of the state interests of Russia, to implement a set of measures for the return of Jehovah's Witnesses to the legal field."