Appeal Court in Blagoveshchensk Left Unchanged the Verdict for Faith Against 78-year-old Vasiliy Reznichenko

On July 29, 2021 the Amur Regional Court upheld the sentence of Vasiliy Reznichenko, a Jehovah's Witness from Zeya convicted earlier to 2 years of suspended imprisonment for talking on religious topics—the court considered it "participation in the activity of an extremist organization.”

The verdict came into force: 2 years of suspended sentence and 6 months of restriction of freedom. The verdict can be appealed in cassation and international instances.

In three weeks after the appeal decision, labor veteran Vasiliy Reznichenko will be 79 years old. Most of them he led a habitual Soviet way of life, and for a long time he worked as a captain of a motor ship. Vasiliy and his wife familiarized themselves with the Bible and became Jehovah's Witnesses in the 1990s. For years, the newfound faith of Vasiliy and his co-religionists did not raise any questions from the authorities.

"Around 2005 or 2006, the police detained me and my wife several times while we were talking to people about God. We were taken to the police and interrogated. The attitude of the police was not strict. They even took magazines [on Biblical topics] from us to read," Vasiliy says. After identification, the believers were released.

In 2016, Vasiliy was widowed. About three years later, in March 2019, criminal proceedings began against him.

"On the morning of the day I was searched when I was reading the daily scripture. I heard the knock on my door. I thought it was one of the neighbors in the entryway. I opened the door, and there were people I didn't know. One showed his FSB ID and introduced himself. The second wore a mask and had a gun. The others were witnesses. The FSB officer said that I was about to be searched. He warned me not to resist and that everything would be fine," Vasiliy said, adding that he was most worried when he was called in for questioning. When I came out of the FSB building to the street after the interrogation, I felt better."

Since March 21, 2019, Vasiliy Reznichenko has been under house arrest, and in November 2019 he was placed on the state List of Terrorists and Extremists. On this basis, the bank blocked all of his personal savings, a significant amount that the pensioner had been saving for many years for his own needs, as well as to help his loved ones. Moreover, at the request of the investigator, the elderly believer had to travel to Blagoveshchensk (almost 600 km away) in order to undergo forensic psychiatric examination.

"I am subjected to criminal prosecution for being a Christian, for being a Jehovah's Witness [...] I do not consider it a crime under the Russia’s law. No one has forbidden the Jehovah's Witnesses religion in Russia," the believer said in his final statement before the court of first instance ruling.

15 believers in the Amur Region have already faced criminal prosecution simply because of their religion.

Russian and foreign opinion makers unanimously condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. Among them is Richard Clayton, Queen's Counsel, UK Representative to the Venice Commission. He notes: "Recognizing Jehovah's Witnesses as extremists will do nothing to help Russia consolidate its reputation as a civilized country. Any decision against Jehovah's Witnesses will affect others [...] This application of laws forms the image of religious freedom in Russia as extremely negative: ‘You can believe in anything, as long as you believe in what I tell you.’ In my opinion, this is a shocking example of how a bad law is being used for an even worse purpose."