Support The Moscow Times!

Siberian Jehovah’s Witness Jailed Despite Prosecution Ban

Russia outlawed the religious group as an "extremist" organization in 2017. Alexander Shcherbak / TASS

A Siberian court jailed a Jehovah’s Witness on Wednesday despite a top Russian court’s recent ban on prosecuting worshippers for joint prayers, the religious organization said.

Anatoly Gorbunov, 64, was found guilty of extremism and sentenced to six years in a penal colony in the Krasnoyarsk region. 

Prosecutors had requested an eight-year sentence for Gorbunov, the son of Soviet citizens declared “enemies of the people” who were exiled to Siberia and rehabilitated after the collapse of the U.S.S.R.

Now Anatoly was subjected to groundless repressions for his beliefs,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia said on its website.

Investigators, it added, accused Gorbunov of organizing “discussions with fellow believers of the Christian way of life.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia stressed that prosecutors presented “not a single fact” proving Gorbunov’s guilt during hearings that continued for more than a year.

Several recordings of religious meetings and Bible discussions contained “no calls for violence, inciting hatred or other illegal actions,” the group said.

A secret witness testified that he saw Gorbunov once “and did not hear anything extremist from him.”

This allegedly was the organization of the activities of a banned religious organization,” the group said.

Russia’s Supreme Court ruled in November 2021 that joint prayers among members of banned religious organizations “do not contain elements of extremism.”

The ban led to the first acquittal of a Jehovah’s Witness on extremism charges that month.

Russia outlawed the nonconformist Christian denomination as “extremist” in 2017 and has since subjected thousands of worshippers to police raids, harassment and up to eight years of imprisonment. 

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more