Source: www.forum18.org
Date: February 19, 2020
Wednesday 19 February 2020
CRIMEA: 35 "anti-missionary" prosecutions in 2019
Prosecutions in Russian-occupied Crimea for ill-defined "missionary
activity" in 2019 were at the same rate as in 2018. Of 24 prosecutions in
2019 for sharing faith or holding worship at unapproved venues, 17 ended in
punishment (fines of five days' average wages). Also, 11 communities were
prosecuted for not using their full legal name outside their meeting place
or in religious literature.
CRIMEA: 35 "anti-missionary" prosecutions in 2019
http://www.forum18.org/archive
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
In Russian-occupied Crimea in 2019 there were 24 prosecutions brought
against 23 individuals and 1 community for ill-defined "missionary
activity", of which 17 ended with punishment, Forum 18 has found. Many of
those punished were prosecuted for holding worship at unapproved venues or
for sharing their faith on the street. Further cases continue in early
2020.
This represents little change in the number of such cases in the Crimean
peninsula, with 23 prosecutions in 2018 of which 19 ended in punishment
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
punishments for "missionary activity" were imposed - July 2016 to July 2017
- saw 13 known cases of which 8 ended in punishment.
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
"These punishments do have an impact," one member of a religious community
in Crimea who was earlier fined for sharing their faith on the street told
Forum 18 in January 2019
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
share their faith less often, and give out publications or invitations less
openly. It is a question not just of fines – if you don't pay then fines
are doubled, then if you still don't pay they impose compulsory labour."
Russia's March 2014 annexation of Crimea is not recognised by Ukraine or
internationally.
All 17 of the people punished in Crimea in 2019 – all Russian citizens
– were fined about 5 days' average local wages each (Russian
Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 - "Russians conducting missionary
activity").
No foreign citizens are known to have faced prosecution in Russian-occupied
Crimea in 2019 under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5 -
"Foreigners conducting missionary activity". In 2018, seven people – all
longtime residents who are Ukrainian citizens - were punished for
participating in religious meetings of a community they belonged to.
There were also 11 cases brought in Crimea in 2019 against 10 religious
communities and 1 individual to punish them for failing to use the full
legal name of a registered religious community (Russian Administrative Code
Article 5.26, Part 3 - "Implementation of activities by a religious
organisation without indicating its official full name, including the
issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary activity, of
literature and printed, audio, and video material without a label bearing
this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false label").
Four of these 11 cases ended with fines of 30,000 Russian Roubles (one
month's average local wages) each, and 2 defendants received a warning. The
other 5 cases ended with no punishment. The communities known to have faced
administrative cases are: 5 Protestant, 1 Muslim, 1 Messianic Jewish, 1
Seventh-day Adventist, 1 Hare Krishna and 1 Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
This represents little change in the number of such cases against religious
communities in Crimea under Article 5.26, Part 3, with 12 cases against
religious communities in 2018
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
the imposition of such punishments – between July 2016 and July 2017 –
Forum 18 found 14 such administrative cases, of which 8 ended in
punishment. (http://www.forum18.org/archiv
A full listing of known 2019 cases in the administratively separate
Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol - based on court decisions
and court records seen by Forum 18 - is at the foot of this article.
Administrative prosecutions are also brought against those who have or are
deemed to be in charge of religious literature the Russian authorities
consider "extremist" or who hold unapproved public exercise of the right to
freedom of religion or belief (see below).
Penalties for ill-defined "anti-missionary" activity
The 35 Russian Administrative Code cases in Crimea in 2019 were all brought
under wide-ranging and ill-defined "anti-missionary" Russian legal changes
made in July 2016 (http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Russian authorities immediately imposed these punishments in Crimea, which
they occupied in March 2014.
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 punishes the
"Implementation of activities by a religious organisation without
indicating its official full name, including the issuing or distribution,
within the framework of missionary activity, of literature and printed,
audio, and video material without a label bearing this name, or with an
incomplete or deliberately false label". This incurs a fine of 30,000 to
50,000 Roubles and the confiscation of any literature or other material.
In upholding a Russian Pentecostal Pastor's appeal in November 2017,
Russia's Supreme Court declared that Article 5.26, Part 3 does not apply to
private individuals or people employed in an official capacity, only to
legal entities. This may account for why the only case under this Part
against an individual in Crimea in 2019 was returned (see list below).
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 punishes "Russians
conducting missionary activity". This incurs a fine of 5,000 to 50,000
Roubles. For organisations (legal entities), the fine is 100,000 to 1
million Roubles. Unregistered religious groups must notify the authorities
of their existence, activities and membership but are not legal entities.
Their members are therefore subject to prosecution as individuals.
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5 punishes "Foreigners
conducting missionary activity". This incurs a fine of 30,000 to 50,000
Roubles with the possibility of expulsion from Russia.
Human rights defender Aleksandr Sedov of the Crimean Human Rights Group
stated in 2017 that the punishments violate the rights to freedom of
religion or belief enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms. He also pointed out that they also break the Geneva
Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War, which enshrines the rights of civilians in occupied territories.
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Tight Russian freedom of religion and belief restrictions
Since the March 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, local religious
communities which wanted to continue to function had to re-register under
Russian law. Many were forced to restructure themselves to meet Russian
requirements. This usually entailed cutting ties to their fellow-believers
elsewhere in Ukraine.
Individuals and religious communities in Crimea were also subjected to the
web of restrictions on exercising freedom of religion or belief enshrined
in Russian law (http://www.forum18.org/archiv
have faced raids, fines, religious literature seizures, government
surveillance, expulsions of invited foreign religious leaders, unilateral
cancellation of property rental contracts and obstructions to regaining
places of worship confiscated in the Soviet period.
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Prosecutions continue in 2020
Following a raid by Russian security forces on Friday prayers at a
Simferopol mosque, Prosecutors brought a case against the Imam, Rasim
Dervishev, under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4
("Russians conducting missionary activity").
On 14 January 2020, Prosecutors handed the case against Imam Dervishev to
Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 13. His lawyer, Ayder Azamatov, argued in
court that the Imam should not be punished for leading Friday prayers. The
case is due to resume on 25 February (see forthcoming F18News article).
Among other 2020 cases is one brought against Simferopol's Vineyard
Pentecostal Church under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3
("Implementation of activities by a religious organisation without
indicating its official full name, including the issuing or distribution,
within the framework of missionary activity, of literature and printed,
audio, and video material without a label bearing this name, or with an
incomplete or deliberately false label").
Prosecutions for "extremist" religious literature, public religious events
Individuals are also fined for having or being deemed to be in charge of
religious literature the Russian authorities consider "extremist".
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Since the Russian annexation of Crimea, religious communities, libraries
and individuals have repeatedly faced raids and punishment over religious
literature which is banned as "extremist" but which does not appear to
violate the human rights of others.
Officers – often armed – have raided numerous madrassahs (Muslim
colleges), libraries, Muslim-owned homes and Jehovah's Witness meetings
seizing such literature. Individuals have been punished under Russian
Administrative Code Administrative Code Article 20.29 ("Production or mass
distribution of extremist materials included in the published Federal List
of Extremist Materials, as well as their production or storage for mass
distribution"). (http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Prosecutions are also brought in Crimea to punish exercise of freedom of
religion or belief in public under Russian Administrative Code Article 20.2
("Violation of the established procedure for organising or conducting a
gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket"), which is linked
to the Demonstrations Law.
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Prosecutors brought three separate cases against Sevastopol Hare Krishna
devotee Aleksandr Kramarenko under Russian Administrative Code Article
20.2, Part 2 to punish him for singing mantras on the street with fellow
devotees in December 2019. However, on 4 February 2020, Sevastopol's Lenin
District Court sent the cases back because the records of an offence had
not been correctly prepared, according to court records.
Kramarenko was among those fined in 2019 under Russia's "anti-missionary"
laws (see list below).
Criminal cases also underway
In addition to these Russian Administrative Code cases, two individuals are
known to be on trial to punish their exercise of freedom of religion or
belief, with others also facing criminal prosecution.
On 20 February, Yalta City Court is expected to issue its verdict in the
"extremism"-related criminal case of Jehovah's Witness Artyom Gerasimov
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
demanded a jail term of six and a half years, plus one year of restricted
freedom and a three-year ban on unspecified activity.
On 25 February, Dzhankoi District Court is due to hear the final speeches
in the "extremism"-related criminal case of another Jehovah's Witness
Sergei Filatov (http://www.forum18.org/archiv
About 10 groups of FSB officers, OMON riot police and possibly officers of
other agencies who had come from Simferopol then raided the homes in
Dzhankoi of eight families (including that of Filatov) who were members of
the two local Jehovah's Witness communities before they were banned in
2017. Violence was used against some of them, while a pregnant woman
suffered a miscarriage following the raids.
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Both Gerasimov and Filatov are on trial under Russian Criminal Code Article
282.2, Part 1.
Russian Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1 punishes "Organisation of" and
Part 2 punishes "participation in" "the activity of a social or religious
association or other organisation in relation to which a court has adopted
a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the activity in
connection with the carrying out of extremist activity".
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
After more than 15 months in pre-trial detention following his October 2017
arrest by the Russian FSB security service, the Crimean Supreme Court
jailed local Muslim Renat Suleimanov for four years
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
"extremism"-related charges for alleged Tabligh Jamaat membership. He is
serving his sentence in a labour camp in Russia, where he has spent months
in a prison punishment cell
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
with him were given two and a half year suspended sentences, when they will
live under restrictions.
Known Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26 cases in Crimea in 2019
The list of known 2019 prosecutions under Russian Administrative Code
Article 5.26, Parts 3 and 4, based on court records and other information
(date of court hearing, name of individual/community, punishment, court,
material on which prosecution based, appeal):
- Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 ("Implementation of
activities by a religious organisation without indicating its official full
name, including the issuing or distribution, within the framework of
missionary activity, of literature and printed, audio, and video material
without a label bearing this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately
false label")
1) 15 February 2019
Name: Sevastopol Hare Krishna community
Punishment: none
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 10
Circumstances: Interior Ministry Centre for Countering Extremism accused
community of meeting in premises without displaying sign with full
community name. Acquitted
Appeal: none
2) 14 March 2019
Name: Ark of Salvation Protestant Church, Kerch
Punishment: none
Court: Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 44
Circumstances: Case returned 14 March 2019 (returned earlier on 13 February
2019) Appeal: none
3) 21 March 2019
Name: I. Tkach
Punishment: none
Court: Saki Magistrate's Court No. 71
Circumstances: Unknown circumstances. Returned
Appeal: none
4) 1 April 2019
Name: Inkerman Missionary Church
Punishment: 30,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Balaklava Magistrate's Court No. 2
Circumstances: Held worship meeting with no sign giving full legal name
Appeal: none
5) 1 April 2019
Name: Inkerman Baptist Church
Punishment: none
Court: Balaklava Magistrate's Court No. 2
Circumstances: Interior Ministry Centre for Countering Extremism checked
all its religious literature and found works which had not been marked with
the community's full legal name. Acquitted, as literature used only within
premises
Appeal: none
6) 22 April 2019
Name: Havah Nagilah (Let Us Rejoice) Messianic Jewish community
Punishment: 30,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 16
Circumstances: Prosecutor's Office inspection during worship on Saturday 16
March 2019 found no sign giving full legal name
Appeal: none
7) 4 July 2019
Name: Razdolnoe Pentecostal Centre
Punishment: Official warning
Court: Razdolnoe Magistrate's Court No. 69
Circumstances: Prosecutor's Office inspected Church during worship on
Sunday 30 June 2019. Church failed to display sign with full legal name
Appeal: none
8) 9 July 2019
Name: Khak Yol (Right Path) Muslim community, Verkhnyaya Kutuzovka
Punishment: Official warning
Court: Alushta Magistrate's Court No. 23
Circumstances: FSB instructed Prosecutor's Office to inspect community.
Found lessons on Koran and Arabic taking place in yard of home without
notice with full legal name of community. Transferred from Court No. 22 on
3 June 2019
Appeal: none
9) 12 July 2019
Name: Seventh-day Adventist Church
Punishment: none
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 13
Circumstances: Case halted
Appeal: none
10) 1 November 2019
Name: Sevastopol Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Punishment: 30,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 12
Circumstances: Prosecutor's Office and Justice Ministry inspection found
religious literature which had not been marked with the community's full
legal name
Appeal: Lodged at Sevastopol's Lenin District Court 17 January 2020;
hearing due 4 March 2020
11) 13 November 2019
Name: God's Horizon Protestant Church, Sevastopol
Punishment: 30,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 13
Circumstances: Maintained pages on VKontakte and Facebook not showing full
name of Church
Appeal: none
- Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting
missionary activity")
1) 10 January 2019
Name: Vasily Olovyanishnikov
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 51
Circumstances: Leading Sunday worship of Pentecostal group in home after
FSB requested investigation from Prosecutor's Office
Appeal: none
2) 16 January 2019
Name: Igor Ratnikov
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 12
Circumstances: Head of Messianic Jewish community led worship. Case
documents included 3 witness statements and interrogation records of 31
individuals
Appeal: none
3) 18 January 2019
Name: Stanislav Negrulya
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 10
Circumstances: At least 2 people present at religious meeting of unknown
affiliation were not members of the community
Appeal: none
4) 30 January 2019
Name: Andrei Tereshchenko
Punishment: none
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 75
Circumstances: Hare Krishna devotee who had gathered for religious meeting
with others in home visited by prosecutor's office officials in inspection.
Acquitted, as prosecutor did not specify or prove in what way he had
committed an "offence"
Appeal: none
5) 22 February 2019
Name: Sofiya Yanovskaya
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 2
Circumstances: Offered Falun Gong literature in park to passers-by
Appeal: unsuccessful – 8 April 2019, Railway District Court, Simferopol;
supervisory, unsuccessful – 20 June 2019, Crimean Supreme Court
6) 11 March 2019
Name: Natalya Ramaerisun
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 44
Circumstances: Prosecutor's Office inspected Ark of Salvation Protestant
Church, Kerch, during Sunday evening service 20 January 2019. Ramaerisun
was conducting children's religious lessons.
Appeal: none
7) 11 March 2019
Name: Natalya Kuznetsova
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 44
Circumstances: Prosecutor's Office inspected Ark of Salvation Protestant
Church, Kerch, during Sunday evening service 20 January 2019. Kuznetsova
was conducting children's religious lessons.
Appeal: none
8) 25 March 2019
Name: Yuliya Shilyayeva
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 6
Circumstances: Published on social media materials about Tree of Life
Pentecostal Church designed to attract new members
Appeal: none
9) 25 April 2019
Name: Abdulla Gemedzhi
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 5
Circumstances: Led Friday prayers on 25 January 2019 in independent mosque
claimed by the Crimean Muftiate ("conducted missionary activity in the form
of a worship service"), where he has led prayers since 1995
Appeal: none
10) 30 April 2019
Name: Abdulla Gemedzhi
Punishment: none
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 5
Circumstances: Led Friday prayers on 18 January 2019 in independent mosque.
Case closed because it had passed deadline for consideration
Appeal: none
11) 26 April 2019
Name: Tatyana Pshenichnaya
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 47
Circumstances: FSB took books and leaflets of unknown international
religious group from pensioner's presentation in library (transferred from
Court No. 48)
Appeal: unsuccessful – 24 May 2019, Kerch City Court; rejected without
consideration – 10 and 11 June 2019, Crimean Supreme Court
12) 30 April 2019
Name: Abdulla Gemedzhi
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 5
Circumstances: Led Friday prayers on 1 February 2019 in independent mosque.
Appeal: none
13) 14 May 2019
Name: A. Nechiporuk (female)
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 6
Circumstances: Police Centre for Countering Extremism found her giving out
leaflets with contact details for Sevastopol Christian Centre from Kemerovo
Appeal: none
14) 14 May 2019
Name: K. Nechiporuk (male)
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 6
Circumstances: Police Centre for Countering Extremism found him giving out
leaflets with contact details for Sevastopol Christian Centre from Kemerovo
Appeal: none
15) 14 May 2019
Name: N. Yevdokimova
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 6
Circumstances: Police Centre for Countering Extremism found her giving out
leaflets with contact details for Sevastopol Christian Centre from Kemerovo
Appeal: none
16) 4 July 2019
Name: Seventh-day Adventist Church
Punishment: none
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 13
Circumstances: Case halted (transferred from Simferopol's Kiev District
Court 4 June 2019)
Appeal: none
17) 16 July 2019
Name: Anastasiya Ivasyuk
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 16
Circumstances: Distributed Hare Krishna literature without full name of
religious organisation and answered questions on the faith from passers-by
Appeal: none
18) 6 August 2019
Name: Aleksei Sonin
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 14
Circumstances: Hare Krishna devotee, sang mantras in park
Appeal: rejected without consideration – 15 October 2019, Sevastopol City
Court
19) 12 August 2019
Name: Aleksandr Kramarenko
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Sevastopol Magistrate's Court No. 14
Circumstances: Hare Krishna devotee, sang mantras in park
Appeal: none
20) 10 September 2019
Name: I. Kristya
Punishment: none
Court: Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 48
Circumstances: Case sent back
Appeal: none
21) 10 September 2019
Name: A. Saulidi
Punishment: none
Court: Kerch Magistrate's Court No. 48
Circumstances: Case sent back
Appeal: none
22) 30 September 2019
Name: Arsen Kantemirov
Punishment: none
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 75
Circumstances: Imam of Salgir Baba Mosque in Zarechnoe, raided during
Friday prayers by Russian security forces
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
because too much time had elapsed (earlier returned on 28 August 2019)
Appeal: none
23) 8 November 2019
Name: Aydar Islyamov
Punishment: 5,000 Russian Roubles
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 76
Circumstances: Leading Friday prayers in a home in Ukrainka raided by armed
Russian security personnel
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Appeal: none
24) 16 December 2019
Name: Asan Bekirov
Punishment: none
Court: Simferopol Magistrate's Court No. 75
Circumstances: Led prayers at Salgir Baba Mosque in Zarechnoe raided during
Friday prayers by Russian security forces
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
because too much time had elapsed (Case earlier returned on 12 November
2019)
Appeal: Simferopol District Court sent back Prosecutor's challenge without
consideration, 24 January 2020
(END)
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Crimea
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
For more background, see Forum 18's Crimea religious freedom survey
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Forum 18's reports and analyses on freedom of thought, conscience and
belief in Russia within its internationally-recognised territory
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(http://www.forum18.org/archiv
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