Court Gave Pensioner, 63, from Magnitogorsk a 6-Year Suspended Sentence for His Faith

The Ordzhonikidze District Court of Magnitogorsk issued a guilty verdict in the case of Aleksandr Salnikov, one of Jehovah's Witnesses. On August 22, 2024, Judge Olga Prokopenko equated holding peaceful meetings for worship with organizing the activity of an extremist organization.

Salnikov is a man with 40 years of work experience, he has repeatedly received awards for high professionalism, including a certificate of honor from the head of Magnitogorsk. Now Aleksandr and his wife are non-working pensioners, so adding the believer to the Rosfinmonitoring list, the blocking of his bank and social benefit cards seriously affected the financial situation of the family.

Friends supported Salnikov over the course of the trial. Photo made on August 21, 2024

The Salnikovs faced criminal prosecution in April 2023, when law enforcement officers broke into their home with a search warrant. Aleksandr was interrogated and placed in a temporary holding facility for two days, and then released under a recognizance agreement. Due to the stress, his chronic illness worsened.

In April 2024, the case went to court. During the hearings, it turned out that the witnesses could not indicate how the incitement of religious hatred was expressed by Salnikov. One of them said that during the interrogation the FSB officer used obscene language, forcing him to sign a protocol with testimony.

"I have the impression," the believer commented on his situation, "that in order to avoid criminal liability, I must renounce my religious beliefs or stop expressing them. But this is nothing other than discrimination." Another 15 Jehovah's Witnesses from the Chelyabinsk Region have found themselves in a similar situation.