Unjust Verdicts

Primorye Court Found Liya Maltseva, One of Jehovah's Witnesses with Disability, Guilty of Extremism for Believing in God

Primorye Territory

On September 20, 2022, Aleksandr Yagubkin, a judge of the Partizan City Court of Primorye Territory, found 53-year-old Liya Maltseva guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. The believer was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months of suspended imprisonment and 7 months of restriction of liberty.

The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. Maltseva insists on her complete innocence. In her last statement in court, she said: "It is unthinkable for me not only to commit a crime, but also to hate or even offend someone."

In July 2020, Liya Maltseva, a disabled person of group II, was surprised to find out that she was on the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring. As it turned out, a criminal case was initiated against her.

Currently, another trial is underway in Partizansk against believer Irina Buglak. The presiding judge is Darya Didur, who authorized the search at Liya Maltseva's house as well.

As Memorial Human Rights Center notes, the decisions of Russian courts, including the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, “contain not a single fact of violation of public order by believers, manifestations of aggression or violence on their part, evidence that their peaceful religious activities threatened the security of the Russian Federation [...] The foregoing allows us to speak about the obvious illegality of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, whose ‘crime’ is that they exercised the right to freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”

The case of Maltseva in Partizansk

Case History
Liya Maltseva from Partizansk has a disability. In June 2020, she faced prosecution for her faith in Jehovah God — a criminal case was initiated against her for extremism. The case was based on covert video footage of a meeting for worship, which Maltseva had attended. A month later, Rosfinmonitoring added Liya to the list of terrorists and extremists, and after another month her house was searched. The believer was taken for interrogation, and then placed under a recognizance agreement. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation accused her of participating in the activity of a religious association banned by the court. In May 2021, the case went to the city court. Witnesses interrogated for the prosecution stated that they did not hear hate speech from Liya against representatives of other religions. As a result, in September 2022, Liya Maltseva was given a 2-year and 3-month suspended sentence and 7 months restriction of liberty. The court of appeal and court of cassation upheld the verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Criminal case

Region:
Primorye Territory
Locality:
Partizansk
Court case number:
12002050018000048
Initiated:
June 1, 2020
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Department for the city of Partizansk of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Primorsky Territory
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-6/2022 (1-131/2021)
Court:
Партизанский городской суд Приморского края
Judge:
Александр Ягубкин
[i18n] Суд апелляционной инстанции:
Приморский краевой суд
Case History