The Samara Regional Court has upheld a six-year general-regime penal colony sentence imposed on a Jehovah’s Witness. Oboz.info reported the appeal ruling on November 3, citing the court press service. In the published summary, the defendant was anonymized as “F.”
The original judgment was issued by Tolyatti’s Avtozavodsky District Court. In addition to imprisonment, the defendant was barred for four years from leading religious organizations or participating in their activities. The case proceeded under Article 282.2(1) of Russia’s Criminal Code, concerning the organization of an association designated extremist by Russian authorities.
Prosecutors alleged that from August 2017 to March 2024 he held religious meetings, coordinated preaching and appointed elders, including in Petrozavodsk and Shadrinsk. The court treated this as continuation of the banned organization’s activities. The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “extremist” designation is a classification under Russian law, not an editorial assessment of their beliefs.