On 18 July 2024, the European Court of Human Rights examined nine complaints filed by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia who were subjected to illegal searches, arrests, and convictions because of their religious beliefs. The Russian Federation is obliged to pay 156,000 euros as financial compensation compensation and 4,000 euros in legal costs to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The court ruling concerns 14 men and two women. Most of them have already served real or suspended sentences: Sergey and Anastasia Polyakov, Konstantin Bazhenov, Aleksey Budenchuk, Feliks Makhammadiyev, Gennadiy German, Aleksey Miretskiy, Roman Gridasov, Mariya Karpova, Marat Abdulgalimov, Arsen Abdullaev and Anton Dergalev.
Valeriy Moskalenko paid the fine imposed on him. Irina Buglak continues to serve a suspended sentence. Dmitriy Barmakin, sentenced to eight years in prison, is awaiting his transfer to a penal colony. And the case of Roman Makhnev is expected to go to court soon.
According to the ECHR decision, the Russian Federation violated three provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in relation to the applicants.
Thus, the court called the detention of the believers in metal cages during the hearings a manifestation of degrading treatment (Article 3), and considered detention, searches and seizure of property ungrounded and illegal (Article 5). The ECHR also found that the applicants had been subjected to arbitrary criminal prosecution merely for practicing their faith, which was in violation of the Article on Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion (Article 9).
Russia ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights on September 16, 2022, but the consideration of these complaints is still within the jurisdiction of the ECHR because they cover incidents that took place in 2018-2020.
A backlog of over 3,600,000 EUR fines decreed by the ECHR still unpaid to Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Russian Federation remains obliged to pay the financial compensation to the believers, including under other decisions of the European Court. The total amount already exceeds 3,600,000 euros.
On June 7, 2022, the ECHR declared illegal
- the liquidation of the administrative center and another 395 legal entities of Jehovah’s Witnesses by Russia,
- the ban on their activities,
- the seizure of property,
- the prohibition of printing their publications and
- the closure of their official website.
In addition, the ECHR also ruled that Russia must put an end to the criminal prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses and release those who are serving prison terms: around 130 of them sentenced to 1 to 8 years in detention.
The decision was issued in the case “Taganrog LRO and others v. Russia”, in 2022, in which a total of 20 complaints filed by Jehovah’s Witnesses from 2010 to 2019 were combined.
The total number of applicants was 1444, of which 1014 are individuals and 430 are legal entities (some applicants appear in more than one complaint). According to the ruling, in total, Russian Federation is obliged to pay the applicants EUR 3,447,250 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and to return the seized property (or pay EUR 59,617,458).
By its actions, Russia violated the provisions of several articles of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: right of personal freedom (Article 5), freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 9), freedom of expression (Article 10) and freedom of assembly and association (Article 11). In addition, Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (the right to respect for property) was violated.
Yaroslav Sivulsky of the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses said: “We are grateful to the Strasbourg Court for its authoritative qualified legal understanding of the unprecedented situation that has developed in Russia with Jehovah’s Witnesses. We hope that today’s ruling will help the Russian authorities to restore the rule of law and rights in relation to more than 175,000 believers of our religion in the near future.”
After the era of Soviet repressions had ended in the early 1990s, Jehovah’s Witnesses received official registration in Russia in 1992. Thereafter, their meetings for worship were attended by up to 290,000 people. In 2017, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation liquidated all legal entities and confiscated hundreds of religious buildings. Police crackdowns and searches started again and hundreds of believers were sent to jail for years.
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