Week-ending 4 December 2020
A court in Omsk convicted four Jehovah’s Witnesses on 30 November 2020 in connection with their membership of the Church. Sergei Polyakov was sentenced to three years in prison for “organising the activities of an extremist group” while his wife, Anastasia Polyakova, and two other Jehovah’s Witnesses, Dinara Dyusekeyeva and Gaukhar Bektemirova, were given two-year suspended sentences for “taking part in the activities of an extremist group.”
Sources:
RFE/RL, Monday, 30 November 2020: Several Jehovah’s Witnesses have been sentenced in Russia for being members of the religious group that Moscow has labeled as extremist and banned in the country. A court in the Siberian city of Omsk, on November 30, sentenced 48-year-old Sergei Polyakov to three years in prison after finding him guilty of “organizing the activities of an extremist group.” Polyakov’s wife, Anastasia Polyakova and two other Jehovah’s Witnesses, Dinara Dyusekeyeva and Gaukhar Bektemirova, were convicted of “taking part in the activities of an extremist group” and handed suspended two-year prison terms each. Their lawyer, Dmitry Kolobov, told RFE/RL after the sentences were pronounced that all of the convicted will appeal the court’s rulings. The four went on trial more than a year ago amid Russian authorities’ crackdown on the religious group that was officially labelled as extremist and banned in the country in 2017. Last week, Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had arrested several Jehovah’s Witnesses and carried out raids of their homes across the country.
The Moscow Times, Tuesday, 1 December 2020: Four Jehovah’s Witnesses have been convicted and sentenced on extremism charges in southwestern Siberia, the religious organization banned in Russia said Monday. A court in the city of Omsk found husband and wife Sergei and Anastasia Polyakov guilty of recruiting others to join an “extremist” group. Two other Jehovah’s Witnesses, Dinara Dyusekeyeva and Gaukhar Bektemirova, were found guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist group.
