Law of the Week

Week-ending 2 October 2020

Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code

On 1 October 2020 the FSB carried out armed searches in Sevastopol, arresting four Jehovah’s Witnesses – Yevhen Zhukov; Volodymyr Maladyka; Volodymyr Saakad and Ihor Schmidt. On 2 October 2020 the four were remanded in custody on charges of ‘organising the work of an extremist organization’ under Article 282.2 § 1 of the Russian Criminal Code. As noted by Human Rights in Ukraine, the charges pertain solely to their peaceful practising of their faith. Jehovah’s Witnesses organisations were banned in Russia as extremist by a ruling of the Russian Supreme Court in 2017.

Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code

Organising the activities of an extremist organisation

1. Organising the activities of a civil society or religious association or other organisation with regard to which a court has issued an enforceable decision on liquidation or prohibition of activities on grounds of extremist activities, except for organisations recognised as terrorist under Russian law –

– is punishable by a fine ranging from 400,000 roubles to 800,000 roubles or at the rate of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of two to four years or imprisonment for a period of six to ten years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to ten years and with restrictions on freedom for a period of one to two years.

1.1. Inducement, recruitment or other kind of involvement of a person in the activities of an extremist organization –

– is punishable by a fine ranging from 300,000 roubles to 700,000 roubles or at the rate of wages or other income of the convicted person for the period from two to four years, or by compulsory labor for a period ranging two to five years with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to engage in certain activities for the period from five years and with restrictions on freedom for the period from one to two years, or with deprivation of freedom for the period from four to eight years with restrictions on freedom for the period from one to two years.

2. Participation in the activities of a civil society or religious association or other organisation with regard to which a court has issued an enforceable decision on liquidation or prohibition of activities on grounds of extremist activities, except for organisations recognised as terrorist under Russian law –

• is punishable by a fine ranging from 300,000 roubles to 600,000 roubles or at the rate of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of two to three years, or by compulsory labor for a period randing from one to four years with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years and with restrictions on freedom for a period of up to one year, or with deprivation of freedom for a period of two to six years with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to five years and with restrictions on freedom for a period up to one year.

3. The actions envisaged in the first, first.1, or second parts of the current article committed by a person using their official position –

-is punishable by imprisonment for a term ranging from seven to 12 years with a fine ranging from 300,000 roubles to 700,000 roubles or at the rate of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period ranging from two to three years or without it, with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to ten years and with restriction of freedom for a term ranging from one to two years.

Note. A person who for the first time has committed a crime under this Article and has voluntarily ceased to participate in the activities of a civil society or religious association or other organisation with regard to which a court has issued an enforceable decision on liquidation or prohibition of activities on grounds of committing extremist activities shall be exempt from criminal liability, unless their actions contain proof of another crime.

Read the original Russian here.

Human Rights in Ukraine, Friday, 2 October 2020: A day after the Russian FSB carried out armed searches in occupied Sevastopol, four Jehovah’s Witnesses have been arrested and remanded in custody for two months.  Although Yevhen Zhukov; Volodymyr Maladyka; Volodymyr Saakad and Ihor Schmidt are accused of ‘organizing the work of an extremist organization’ (under Article 282.2 § 1 of Russia’s criminal code), the charges pertain solely to their peaceful practising of their faith, and all are undoubtedly political prisoners. Early on 1 October, the FSB and other enforcement officers burst into the homes of nine Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sevastopol.  Five people were detained – the men now in custody and Volodymyr Maladyka’s wife, Natalya.  She was later released, and for the moment has ‘witness status’. She later told Graty that her husband rejects the charges and calls the search of their home unlawful.  She is planning to appeal against her husband’s detention.  Zhukov was identified on Russian official documents in 2015 as the head of the ‘local Christian religious organization the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sevastopol’.  This was one of two Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations in occupied Sevastopol that were forcibly dissolved after Russia reverted to Soviet repressive ways and banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses on 20 April 2017.