6 Jehovah’s Witnesses from Moscow сharged with participating in and recruiting for an extremist organization.
Daria Vladimirovna Petrochenko, Zaur Borisovich Murtuzov, Larisa Evgenyevna Kislaya, Oksana Yuryevna Ivanova, and Liliana Sergeyevna Korol are charged with participating in the extremist organization “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” and recruiting for it (Part 1.1 and Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Tatyana Aleksandrovna Levitskaya is charged only with participation (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
The case is based on the testimony of a witness who, according to the defendants, contacted them herself and asked them to tell her about their faith. At one of the hearings, the witness presented a passport specially issued to her by the FSB instead of her genuine document. This came to light because the court addressed her by her real surname.
The court of first instance sentenced Petrochenko and Murtuzov to 5 years in a general-regime penal colony, Levitskaya to 3.5 years of forced labor, and the others to 4 years of forced labor.
