JEHOVAH'S WITNESS RECEIVES SUSPENDED PRISON TERM IN BIROBIDZHAN
Sibir.Realii, 18 February 2021
In Birobidzhan, a court found the Jehovah's Witness Konstantin Guzev guilty on the basis of the article about participating in the activity of an extremist organization. This was reported by OVD-Info, citing the press service of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnrsses. He was given a suspended two-and-a-half year prison term with two years of probation and the obligation to report once a month at a supervisory agency. The state prosecution had insisted on a real prison term of four years in a penal colony of ordinary regime.
The case against the local resident was opened in the summer of 2019. Materials were taken from the case of another believer, Alam Aliev, who is charged with arranging the activity of an extremist organization. For the past year and a half, Guzev has been under his own recognizance.
In addition, now the court in the Jewish autonomous oblast is considering the case of Guzev's wife, Anastasia. She also is charged with allegedly participating in the activity of an extremist organization. In all, at least 19 cases have been opened in the region against 22 adherents of the religious movement. (tr. by PDS, posted 19 February 2021)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.