Convict with friends on the day of the appeal

Convict with friends on the day of the appeal

Convict with friends on the day of the appeal

Unjust Verdicts

Court of Appeal in Barnaul Upholds Verdict Against Jehovah's Witness Vitaliy Manuylov

Altai Territory

On February 14, 2025, the Altai Territory Court partially granted Vitaliy Manuylov's appeal against the guilty verdict. The remaining term of punishment has been recalculated — of the 2 years of forced labor imposed by the court, about 10 months are considered to have already been served.

In his appeal against the verdict, Vitaliy Manuylov stated that the court's conclusions did not correspond to the factual circumstances of the criminal case, and the presence of corpus delicti was not proven. He further noted that the decision of the first instance contained procedural violations — the court did not take into account the time he was under a ban on certain actions when calculating the unserved sentence.

In the Altai Territory, eight Jehovah's Witnesses have already received various convictions because of their beliefs.

The Case of Manuylov in Barnaul

Case History
In the summer of 2023, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Valeriy Klokov in Barnaul. Then the home of Vitaliy Manuylov was searched, and he was interrogated as a witness. In April 2024, Manuylov was summoned for a second interrogation, charged with participating in the activity of an extremist organization, and detained. The next day, the court placed him under house arrest. Two months later, Manuylov’s case was separated from Klokov’s case. In June 2024, the case materials were submitted to the court. The case included the testimony of a secret witness. In November 2024, the court sentenced Vitaliy to 2 years forced labor. The court of appeal upheld that decision.
Timeline

Persons in case

Manuylov
Vitaliy

Criminal case

Region:
Altai Territory
Locality:
Barnaul
Suspected of:
"He gave talks where he actively quoted... the "Holy Scriptures - New World Translation"... carried out preaching activity" (from the indictment)
Court case number:
12402010022000034
Initiated:
July 10, 2023
Current case stage:
verdict did not take effect
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-580/2024
Court of First Instance:
Industrialnyy District Court of the City of Barnaul of the Altai Territory
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Yevgeniy Saprykin
Case History
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