Photo: Ivan Puida, Sergey Yerkin, Evgeny Zyablov

Photo: Ivan Puida, Sergey Yerkin, Evgeny Zyablov

Photo: Ivan Puida, Sergey Yerkin, Evgeny Zyablov

Criminal Investigation and Trial

In Magadan, after 129 days in pre-trial detention, three believers were placed under house arrest

Magadan Region

On October 5, 2018, the Magadan Regional Court decided to soften the measure of restraint for 65-year-old Sergey Yerkin, 41-year-old Yevgeny Zyablov and 41-year-old Ivan Puida and transferred them to house arrest. They were arrested on May 30, 2018 by officers of the Magadan Region Directorate of the FSB of Russia.

Earlier, on August 3, 2018, the court sent under house arrest another defendant in this case, 31-year-old Konstantin Petrov, who was also arrested on May 30.

All four face up to 10 years in prison under the article "organization of the activities of an extremist community" (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). After the Russian Supreme Court liquidated and declared "extremist" all 396 organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses, law enforcement agencies across the country mistakenly interpret peaceful meetings of believers as "extremist activity." A total of at least 37 people were sent to prison (pre-trial detention center or temporary detention facility), most of them, 21 people, are still in pre-trial detention, the rest of the preventive measure was mitigated. At the same time, in the ECHR, the Russian Government argues that the decision of the Supreme Court and the appellate ruling by which it was upheld "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teaching individually" (par. 91). Dozens of human rights activists, as well as the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation , express concern about the growing religious repression.

The Case of Puyda and Others in Magadan

Case History
After a series of searches in Magadan in May 2018, Konstantin Petrov, Yevgeniy Zyablov and Sergey Yerkin were placed in a pretrial detention center. On the same day in Khabarovsk, the home of Ivan Puyda was searched. He was arrested and taken 1,600 km to a pretrial detention center in Magadan. The believers spent 2 to 4 months behind bars, and then ended up under house arrest. In March 2019, the FSB conducted another series of searches. The number of defendants in the case has reached 13, including 6 women and elderly. The investigator deemed holding peaceful meetings for worship as organizing, participating in and financing the activity of an extremist organization. In almost 4 years of investigation, the case materials against the 13 believers has grown to 66 volumes. The case went to court in March 2022. At the hearings, it became clear that the case was based on the testimony of a secret witness – an FSB informant who made covert recordings of peaceful meetings for worship. In March 2024, the believers were given suspended sentences ranging from 3 to 7 years, and the court of appeal later upheld this verdict.
Timeline

Persons in case

Agadzhanov
Sergey
Asatryan
Lyubov
Dergacheva
Galina
Yerkin
Sergey
Kardakova
Inna
Khvostova
Irina
Pechko
Galina
Petrov
Konstantin
Puyda
Ivan
Revyakin
Viktor
Solntsev
Mikhail
Solntseva
Oksana
Zyablov
Yevgeniy

Criminal case

Region:
Magadan Region
Locality:
Magadan
Suspected of:
according to the investigation, conducted together with others religious meetings for worship, which is interpreted as “organising the activity of an extremist organisation”
Court case number:
11807440001000013
Initiated:
May 30, 2018
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Second Investigative Division of the Third Department for Investigating Especially Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Irkutsk Region
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2), 282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Court case number:
1–6/2024 (1-12/2023, 1-220/2022)
Court of First Instance:
Magadan City Court of the Magadan Region
Judge of the Court of First Instance:
Tatyana Belayeva
Case History
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