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| Volgograd Jehovah's Witnesses Sentenced to Prison for Extremism |
| 2021-09-24 |
| [KavkazUzel] A court in Volgograd has appointed real terms for five Jehovah's Witnesses, having found them guilty in an extremism case. The defendants pleaded not guilty and are going to appeal the verdict. The relatives of the convicts said the sentence was expected. As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, five Jehovah's Witnesses from Volgograd accused of extremism declared in court that they were not involved in the activities of the organization banned by the court. The prosecution requested seven to nine years in prison for them. The relatives of the defendants indicated that in the event of a real imprisonment, the families of the Volgograd Jehovah's Witnesses will be left without breadwinners. In the last word, the defendants declared their innocence and asked the court to acquit them. Jehovah's Witnesses Valery Rogozin, Sergei Melnik, Igor Yegozaryan, Vyacheslav Osipov and Denis Peresunko were accused of involvement in an organization that the court found extremist. But they themselves insist that they are not involved in the activities of a legal entity prohibited by the court, but simply professed their religion. In court, according to the defense of believers, evidence was disclosed that had nothing to do with the essence of the charges or the religious views of the defendants, and the religious examination did not explain what the extremism imputed to believers was. |
| Posted by:badanov |