Court of Cassation in Vladivostok Upheld the Sentence of Four Believers from Tynda

On May 14, 2024, the Ninth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Vladivostok confirmed the sentence of four Jehovah's Witnesses. Vladimir Bukin, Valeriy Slashchev and Sergey Yuferov will continue to serve their prison sentences of 6 years and 4 months, and Mikhail Burkov — 6 years and 2 months.

The case of the believers from Tynda was considered twice — the first verdict was overturned by the court of appeal, but later the Tyndinskiy District Court of the Amur Region nevertheless found them guilty and sentenced them to imprisonment. This decision was upheld by the court of appeal. In their cassation appeal, the believers drew attention to them being named as guilty in the verdict only for participating in meetings for worship, preaching the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, engouraging others to continue following the beliefs and studying the religious literature of Jehovah's Witnesses.

According to the believers, the court of first instance was unable to determine what exactly they were guilty of: "Not a single piece of evidence was presented to the court showing that the actions [of the convicted persons] were of a socially dangerous nature and caused harm to legal relations protected by law, or that [the convicted persons] had a motive for inciting hatred and enmity." "Peaceful conversations about God in the circle of fellow believers or with other people without calls for violence, discrimination and degrading treatment of any social group cannot have such a degree of public danger," they stressed.

The authorities of the Amur Region continue to prosecute Jehovah's Witnesses: already 24 people aged 30 to 82 have become defendants in criminal cases for their religious views.