Court in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy Again Found Married Couple of Jehovah's Witnesses Guilty of Extremism and Toughened Their Punishment

On February 19, 2025, 10 months after the first verdict, the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy City Court issued a new decision in the case of Sergey and Yelena Chechulin. They were found guilty of organizing extremist activity and their suspended sentence was tripled: instead of 2 years, they were given 6 years each.

In court, Sergey stressed that the prosecutor considered simple friendly conversations with fellow believers and meetings for worship, at which they talked about Jesus Christ and love for people, to be extremist activity. "Here there is no extremism," Chechulin commented on the charge. "We cannot help but love people, because we love God. Neither I nor my wife have ever allowed and will never allow ourselves to make any extremist statements." Yelena Chechulina also rejected the accusations of extremism: "All my actions were absolutely peaceful. I did not incite religious hatred or enmity, which is confirmed by the conclusions of all seven linguistic expert studies."

It was the prosecutor's office who sought a retrial of the Chechulins' case: the state prosecution considered the initial verdict inappropriate and initiated its reconsideration through the court of cassation. As a result, Judge Olga Obraztsova began a new trial in the court of first instance in December 2024.

Russian law enforcement agencies often initiate criminal cases against multiple members of families of Jehovah's Witnesses. As of 2024, the number of families where more than one person has been prosecuted for their faith has exceeded 80.