A Court in Krasnoyarsk Found Natalya Voropayeva Guilty of Extremism for Her Beliefs. The Believer Was Fined 360,000 Ruble

On March 24, 2023, in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the consideration of the case of 51-year-old Natalya Voropaeva was completed. Judge Ivan Ivanov of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court fined her 360,000 rubles for discussing the Bible with fellow believers as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. The verdict can be appealed.

The trial lasted only five sessions. The judge considered such actions as commenting at a religious meeting, singing songs, saying prayers and watching Bible lectures on video to be the continuation of the activities of an extremist organization. “The commission of such actions, which are unlawfully assessed as criminal by the prosecution, has nothing to do with extremism and is an ordinary, peaceful way of expressing faith,” said Natalya in her defense.

Criminal prosecution affected Voropaeva back in 2018—security forces searched her home and interrogated her as a witness in the case of Andrei Stupnikov. Four years later, the investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case against the believer under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The prosecutor requested two and a half years of actual imprisonment for the believer. “The prosecution was interested only in the fact that there were meetings of believers and religious discussions,” said Voropayeva in the court. “However, the investigator and the prosecutor did not even try to delve into the essence of what these meetings were dedicated to. Had they done so, they would have been convinced that I did not commit any unlawful acts; rather, I exercised the right to jointly practice a religion, which no one has banned.” Regarding the psychological and linguistic expert study in the case, Natalya pointed out to the court that the linguist and psychologist went beyond their competence and "intruded into the interpretation of the law, for example, considering what constitutes extremism."

To date, 29 of Jehovah's Witnesses have been subjected to religious persecution in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Five of them were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, three received suspended sentences, and two received large fines.

In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights declared the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia unlawful. Vyacheslav Lebedev, Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in turn, stated that "actions that do not contain signs of extremism and consist solely of the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through the performance of religious rites and ceremonies, do not constitute a crime."