A Court in the Kemerovo Region Gave a Veteran of Labor a 6-Year Suspended Sentence For Reading the Bible With Friends

On January 24, 2023, Anton Iordan, judge of the Kuznetsk District Court of Novokuznetsk (Kemerovo Region) found the 65-year-old guilty of extremism because of his religious views.

Sergey Sushilnikov and his wife have been living in Novokuznetsk for over 40 years. During this time, he repeatedly received certificates of honor and awards from the city administration and his employers. He has the title of veteran of labor

In the summer of 2021, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Sergey for his faith. On June 8, OMON officers with machine guns, wearing masks and bulletproof vests broke into the apartment of the Sushilnikov couple. Shouting "Everyone lie down on the floor!" they knocked Sergey down, and pressed his wife against the wall.

The believer does not admit guilt. In court, he told a story that happened to his 6-year-old grandson. “Once my grandson was walking with his friend in the playground, and they found a wallet with money. The friend immediately thouhgt what to do — divide the money between themselves. But my grandson said that Jehovah does not like those who take what is not theirs. And they returned the wallet to the owner. So can people whose children behave this way, do something bad to others?” he asked rhetorically.

About 120 people went to the district court building to support Sergey Sushilnikov. During the closing arguments, the believer and his lawyer reiterated that the denomination of Jehovah's Witnesses is not prohibited in Russia; in the case there is no damage caused, none of the witnesses confirmed the guilt of the defendant, there is no extremist literature and the expert study did not confirm any extremist activity.

Since July 2018, already 16 people have been prosecuted for their faith in the Kemerovo Region. The European Court of Human Rights, in its judgment on the prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, reiterates: “… only religious statements and actions involving or calling for violence, hatred or discrimination may warrant suppression as being 'extremist' […] The courts did not identify any word, deed or action by the applicants which would be motivated or tainted by violence, hatred or discrimination against others”.