The Court of Appeal Upheld the Harsh Sentence for Two Jehovah's Witnesses From Zeya. They Will Spend From 6 to 6.5 Years in the Penal Colony

On March 31, 2023, a panel of judges of the Amur Regional Court, chaired by Natalya Trofimova, approved the conviction of Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeniy Bitusov — 6.5 and 6 years in prison, respectively. The verdict has entered into force, but the believers strongly disagree with it and can appeal against it in the cassation procedure.

The two Jehovah's Witnesses were sentenced in December 2022 - the believers were accused of organizing the activity of an extremist organization while conducting peaceful worship. Yevgeniy Bitusov, in his appeal against the verdict, wrote: “The state and all officials are obliged to maintain neutrality and impartiality [in matters of religion]. Therefore, they do not have the right to determine what can be believed and what not.”

Before the appeal decision, Leonid Druzhinin said: “Jehovah's Witnesses are known in 240 countries and territories. But nowhere are they tried for extremism or for some radical views.” And Yevgeniy Bitusov drew the attention of the court to the controversial situation with the rights of believers in Russia: “Millions of people in our country go to churches, mosques, practice their religion ... and talk about religious topics with each other. But I am not allowed to do that because I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Why? Is my religion worse than others?”

Both believers said that they receive great help from fellow believers. “It is very encouraging when brothers and sisters come to court and even come from other localities”, Yevgeniy shared his feelings.

Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeniy Bitusov are just two of more than 700 Russian Jehovah's Witnesses facing criminal prosecution solely for their religion.