The Case of Loginov and Others in Surgut

The Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug initiates a criminal case for faith under Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation against Sergey Loginov, Yevgeniy Fedin, Artur Severinchik, Yevgeniy Kayryak, Vyacheslav Boronos, Artem Kim, Aleksey Plekhov, Savely Gargalyk, Sergey Volosnikov, Igor Trifonov, Viktor Fefilov, Timofey Zhukov, Leonid Rysikov, Igor Kobotov, Vasily Burenescu, Yevgeny Kozak, Igor Petrov, Pavel Romashov and his wife Viola Shepel.

The investigation considers peaceful conversations of believers about the Bible and God with friends and other people to be illegal actions.

Mass searches are being carried out in the homes of citizens of Surgut, Lyantor and other settlements of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. At least 15 people were detained and taken to the investigating authorities for interrogation.

It becomes known about the use of torture during interrogations in the Investigative Committee (electric shocks, strangulation to unconsciousness and beatings) against 7 detained believers: Sergey Loginov (born in 1961), Yevgeny Kayryak (born in 1986), Vyacheslav Boronos (born in 1966), Artyom Kim (born in 1988), Alexey Plekhov (born in 1977), Savely Gargalyk (born in 1960), Sergey Volosnikov (born in 1977).

The hotline of the Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) receives an appeal from affected believers with a request to take measures to the investigator of the Surgut Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Dmitry Leonidovich Asmolov in connection with incoming reports of torture.

The Surgut City Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra elects Yevgeny Fedin, Sergey Loginov and Artur Severinchik a measure of restraint in the form of detention in a pre-trial detention center.

Lawyer Kolobov D.M. submits an application to the Office of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra for the disqualification of the investigation team in connection with the use of torture against 7 believers by the head of the investigative department for the city of Surgut Ermolaev V.V., investigators: Tkach S.V., Adiyatullin A.F., Gaisin S.S., Bogoderov S.A., Asmolov D.L. and other representatives of law enforcement agencies.

Andrey Babushkin, the head of the permanent system for assistance to the Public Monitoring Commission, a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, sends an appeal to the Prosecutor General, the head of the Investigative Committee, as well as the chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) for the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug demanding to stop the criminal activities of the security forces responsible for torture.

According to complaint No. 10618/19, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) orders the Russian government to release Sergey Loginov, who has been tortured, from custody under house arrest and urgently send him for a medical examination.

In the cities of Nefteyugansk and Pyt-Yakh (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), located near Surgut, searches are being conducted in the homes of citizens suspected of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. In the city of Pyt-Yakh, 37-year-old Aleksandr Nikanorov is detained, but released after interrogation.

The Court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra cancels the decision of the Surgut City Court (first instance) to detain Artur Severinchik, who spent 21 days behind bars.

The court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra refuses to mitigate the measure of restraint for Yevgeny Fedin and Sergey Loginov.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) lifts the urgent interim measures, but continues to consider the complaint of Sergey Loginov and other believers of Surgut about the torture applied to them.

The court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra satisfies the appeal of Yevgeniy Kayryak against the order to search his apartment. The proceedings were discontinued.

The District Court rules on a similar complaint by Vyacheslav Boronos. The order authorizing a search of his apartment is declared illegal due to violation of procedural norms. The investigator's petition was sent to the court of first instance for a new trial.

A press conference is being held in Moscow highlighting the authorities' response to a complaint by 7 Surgut Jehovah's Witnesses who reported torture. The event is held at the Press Center of the Rosbalt News Agency at the address: Moscow, Skatertny per., 4/2 with the participation of well-known human rights activists, lawyers and representatives of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Sergey Loginov and Yevgeniy Fedin, who have been behind bars since February 15, 2019, are released from custody. Immediately after leaving the pre-trial detention center, the Surgut City Court imposed on both believers a ban on leaving the house at night, communicating with other defendants in the case, using mail, telephone and the Internet.

Victims of torture meet with the Human Rights Ombudsman for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and employees of the offices of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation.

Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), meets in Surgut with local believers who reported being tortured on February 15, 2019, as well as their family members. The meeting takes place in the conference hall of the Central City Library named after A. Pushkin.

The case is accepted for proceedings by the investigator for especially important cases of the 1st Investigative Directorate of the 4th Investigative Directorate in Yekaterinburg of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Guselnikov.

Judge of the Surgut City Court Tatyana Slyusareva sends Timofey Zhukov to the Sverdlovsk Regional Psychiatric Hospital (Yekaterinburg) for an inpatient psychiatric examination for up to 30 days.

Zhukov appeals the decision on psychiatric examination to the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra.

Law enforcement officers in civilian clothes are trying to find Timofey Zhukov in the building of the Surgut City Court. The believer, presumably, goes to seek protection in the court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra, where he appealed.

In Khanty-Mansiysk, Timofey Zhukov was detained and taken to an unknown destination. Later it became known that he was taken to Yekaterinburg for a psychiatric examination in a hospital.

Timofey Zhukov leaves the psychiatric hospital due to the fact that the psychiatric examination is over.

The court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra cancels the decision to send Timofey Zhukov for a 30-day psychiatric examination in a hospital. Thus, the detention and forced hospitalization of the believer was illegal.

The preliminary investigation of the criminal case is extended until August 11, 2020.

The judge of the Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg, Tatyana Chashchina, orders a search of Igor Petrov's home.

The security forces are trying to give Igor's wife, Larisa, a black bag with things seized during the first search in their apartment on February 15, 2019. She refuses to pick them up, after which law enforcement officers go home to the Petrovs, but Igor cannot participate in the investigation for health reasons. Petrov repeatedly submits a statement of refusal to pick up the seized items, fearing possible falsifications and built-in listening devices.

At 15:00, Alexander Guselnikov arrives at the Petrovs' apartment, accompanied by a second investigator, Alexander Monin, 2 armed riot policemen, witnesses, operatives (Senior Lieutenant Igor Antonov and Lieutenant Alexander Todorov) and a technical specialist. According to the protocol, the search is carried out for "the purpose of finding and seizing documents and items related to the activities of the religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as items seized or restricted in civil circulation."

The search is carried out in the presence of Igor's minor son for 4 hours. Electronic devices, postcards and personal records are seized from the family.

The prosecutor hands all defendants in the case copies of their indictment, which is 4 large boxes for each. At the preliminary investigation, the believers have already familiarized themselves with 130 volumes of the criminal case. It also includes several boxes of physical evidence. Court hearings are expected to begin soon.

A criminal case against 19 Jehovah's Witnesses from Surgut and one person mistakenly mistaken by the investigation for a Jehovah's Witness is being submitted to the Surgut City Court.

The court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra decides to pay compensation to Timofey Zhukov for physical and moral damage caused to him by illegal placement in a psychiatric hospital.

In the Surgut City Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a preliminary hearing begins against 20 accused. The hearing takes place in a cramped room, the defenders and the accused can hardly find a place to sit, while the prosecution is provided with tables next to the judge. Due to the illness of the accused and several defense lawyers, the hearing is adjourned.

During the preliminary hearing, several defendants and their defenders fall ill, two of them confirmed to have covid. However, the sick agree that the hearings begin in their absence. Defendants and defence counsel shall provide the court with information on violations committed during the investigation: beating out testimony under torture with the requirement to include untrue information in the record; unlawful involuntary placement of the accused in a psychiatric hospital; introduction of lawyers into the case in violation of the requirements of lawyer ethics; the use of incompetent and biased experts; violations of the right of the accused to a defence; falsification of evidence in the selection of preventive measures. The defense asks that the evidence be declared inadmissible and that the case be returned to the prosecutor.

The judge admits that the investigation was conducted in violation of the criminal procedure law, but believes that the violations are not enough to return the case to the prosecutor.

For believers Yevgeniy Kayryak and Sergey Loginov, the court changes the measure of restraint from a ban on certain actions to a written undertaking not to leave.

The judge announces the preliminary schedule of court hearings, drawn up until August 2022. According to the schedule, in the coming months, the defendants will have only 8-9 working days each month that are not occupied with court hearings. This deprives them of the opportunity to earn a sufficient living.

A witness for the prosecution, a woman who had previously attended services of Jehovah's Witnesses, is being questioned. It is not oriented in many issues, for example, concerning the concepts of "local religious organization" and "legal entity". The witness confirms that she has never heard that any of the defendants called for illegal or violent acts, and some of them she does not know at all. The woman says that Jehovah's Witnesses strive to love people. She does not remember the facts of the use of forbidden literature at worship services. The Witness says that she had previously preached with other Jehovah's Witnesses, but that she did not have the goal of being involved in religion. She explains, "People walked on their own."

The prosecutor requests the announcement of the record of the interrogation of the witness in connection with the presence of contradictions in the testimony. The lawyer opposes the disclosure of the entire record of the interrogation, and the judge grants the prosecutor's request in part, deciding to read out only those passages in which there are contradictions.

The witness confirms the testimony, but says that he remembers the circumstances of the case now better than 2 years ago when interrogated by the investigator. However, she cannot explain why in her 2020 testimony she indicated that religious groups (congregations) did not just belong to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, but were part of the Local Religious Organization in Surgut. As a result, the woman refers to a bad memory.

Interrogation of a prosecution witness who had previously feigned an interest in the Bible and secretly recorded conversations with believers taking place in Pavel Romashov's car. The court listens to these recordings. At them, believers talk with a witness about the importance of respecting parents and resolving conflicts, as well as what is the source of happiness.

Also on the recording it is heard that the witness shares with believers personal problems and experiences and asks for advice in connection with alcoholism and foul language. The defense asks the witness the question: "Did you really use all the advice of believers to overcome alcoholism?"

When asked by the lawyer how he understands the word "recruitment", the witness explains that by recruitment he means an invitation to study the Bible. At the same time, he says that for such conversations, he and Pavel Romashov met by mutual consent.

For more than a year and a half, the Surgut City Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra has been hearing a criminal case against 20 defendants, including 1 person mistakenly accepted by the investigation as a Jehovah's Witness. Court hearings are held behind closed doors, in recent months they have been held every working day. According to relatives, the defendants do not lose heart and remain cheerful.

The court toughens Timofey Zhukov's measure of restraint from recognizance not to leave to detention for a period of 6 months. The believer was detained.

Timofey Zhukov was moved from Saratov to a pre-trial detention center in Chelyabinsk. He expects that then he will be sent to Yekaterinburg, and then to Nizhnevartovsk. Timothy has a positive attitude. As the believer himself says, he perceives "each new day as a gift from God."

The prosecutor asks the court to impose punishment on the believers: from 3 years and 3 months to 9.5 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony.

The longest term requested for Sergey Loginov is 9.5 years in prison. The prosecutor requested 8.5 years for Timofey Zhukov and Pavel Romashov, 8 years and 4 months for Leonid Rysikov and Viktor Fefilov, 8 years and 8 months for Vyacheslav Boronos, Vasily Burenesk, Igor Petrov, Aleksey Plekhov and Igor Trifonov, 7 years and 10 months for Artem Kim, Igor Kobotov and Savely Gargalyk, 7 years and 8 months for Yevgeny Kayryak, 6 years and 8 months for Sergey Volosnikov and Yevgeny Fedin, Artur Severinchik was sentenced to 6.5 years and Viola Shepel to 3 years and 3 months in prison.

The court releases Timofey Zhukov from the pre-trial detention center and chooses a measure of restraint in the form of a ban on certain actions. The believer spent 60 days in custody.

The defendants Kim, Petrov, Loginov, Plekhov, Fedin, Boronos and Trifonov make their final statement.

The defendants Shepel, Fefilov, Kobotov, Rysikov, Gargalyk, Burenescu and Severinchik make their final statements.

The defendants Romashov, Kayryak, Zhukov and Volosnikov address the court with the last word.

Referee: Dmitry Lupin. Surgut City Court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra (Surgut, Profsoyuzov St., 37, Courtroom No. 233).

The court rejects the defendant's motion to challenge Judge T. A. Ushakova, who took part in the overturning of the acquittal of Sergey Sorokin and Andrey Zhukov.

Presiding judge: Marina Aksentyeva. Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area — Yugra (3 Chekhov Street, Khanty-Mansiysk). Time: 10:30.