Two Residents of the Kuril Islands Were Given Suspended Sentences. Court Deemed Conversations About the Bible to Be Extremism

On March 24, 2025, Mariya Manaeva, judge of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court, gave Olga Kalinnikova and Larisa Potapova, residents of Iturup Island, a 2.5-year suspended sentence. To participate in the court hearings, they had to fly to Sakhalin, each time covering a distance of 450 kilometers.

In her final statement, Olga Kalinnikova said: "Laws are created to protect society from criminal actions. The law on extremism stipulates punishment for specific actions of an extremist nature. The list of these actions does not include peaceful conversations with people about God. On the contrary, such conversations are protected by the State and the Constitution."

Larisa Potapova also pleaded not guilty to extremism, stating: "The most harmless people were labeled extremists. This is very strange, because Jehovah's Witnesses do not take up arms, they are opposed to any form of cruelty."

The criminal case was initiated in October 2023, a month later the homes of the women were searched. As it turned out, they had come to the attention of the law enforcement officers a few years earlier. Olga said that since 2017, six rulings have been issued to not initiate a criminal case against her. Initially, investigator Kirill Deshko initiated a case against Kalinnikova and Potapova "for participating in the activity of an extremist organization," and six months later extended the charge to include the article against involving others in this activity.

According to the lawyer of the believers, the main witness in the case was an elderly woman, with whom Kalinnikova and Potapova talked about the Bible and whom they selflessly helped in everyday matters. With the woman's permission, the officers conducted hidden video filming in her house. Potapova commented on these actions as follows: "I have no grudge against [the witness — Ed.]. It is so strange for someone to say that she was afraid of me and didn't want me to visit her, when a photo in the case materials shows us hugging and smiling. And it is all the more surprising that she repeatedly came to my house herself."

The case went to the Kurilsk District Court in May 2024, but two judges recused themselves one after the other. As a result, the case was sent to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court for consideration. Due to the long distance, the believers motioned to participate in the hearings via videoconferencing but were refused. The state prosecutor requested a 5.5-year suspended sentence for them.

A total of 10 Jehovah's Witnesses have faced criminal prosecution in the Sakhalin Region. One of them has been sentenced by the court to 6 years in a penal colony.