Court Sends Dmitriy Terebilov Back to Penal Colony for Practicing His Religion

On January 23, 2024 the Sverdlovsk District Court of Kostroma issued a second guilty verdict against Dmitriy Terebilov - 5 years and 5 days in a penal colony with a strict regime. Judge Dmitriy Gorokhov deemed conversations about the Bible as involving other convicted persons in the activity of an extremist organization.

In the fall of 2021, the believer was sentenced to 3 years in a strict regime penal colony for practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Terebilov served his sentence in full, but was not released — another criminal case was initiated against him under an article for extremism in the spring of 2023. The charge was based on the testimony of a cellmate who feigned an interest in the Bible, to the effect that the believer only answered the man's questions about his religious beliefs.

As evidence of his guilt the investigation also used letters that Terebilov received while in the colony, and entries from his personal diary. At one of the hearings, the colony's censor noted that in these letters "there were no calls to incite hatred or enmity; there were no insults." Remarkably, even before Dmitriy became a believer and while he was serving a fourth sentence for criminal offenses, he received a letter from Jehovah's Witnesses and, according to him, that is what completely changed his life. "From an unworthy criminal, I turned into a God-fearing person and a useful member of society," Dmitriy said.

In his final statement, Terebilov asked: "I cannot understand what evil I have committed and against whom? How would I know what I can and cannot do? The authorities say that my religion is not banned, I can practice it if there is no extremism in my actions, and there never has been. But the law enforcement agencies believe that whatever I do as one of Jehovah's Witnesses is already a crime."