On August 8, 2014, Judge Sergey Lytkin of the Kurgan City Court convicted Anatoliy Isakov, 59, for so-called extremism simply for holding peaceful private Christian worship services.
The prosecutor requested for Anatoly Isakov 6.5 years probation with a probationary period of 3.5 years and deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the dissemination of religion, religious education, holding religious services, religious ceremonies for a period of 9 years.
Anatoliy is Group II disabled and battling cancer, which requires monthly chemotherapy. The judge imposed a fine of 500,000 rubles yet reduced i/ to 400,000 ($4,500 US), given Anatoliy’s stay in pretrial detention and house arrest. The court also ordered Anatoliy to pay procedural costs in the amount of 6,900 rubles ($78 US).
Additionally, Anatoliy has been added to the list of Rosfinmonitoring, blocking his bank account and making it difficult to receive his disability pension.
“Anatoliy is one of hundreds of disabled and elderly Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia who have been unjustly subjected to criminal prosecution and/or inhumane treatment in detention since 2017, when the Federation’s Supreme Court banned the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” states Jarrod Lopes, a spokesperson at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Europe’s highest human rights court ruled that the ban of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia was unwarranted and illegal. Yet, Russia continues to shamelessly conduct mass home raids on harmless readers of the Bible, as well as dole out lengthy prison sentences that upend the lives of peaceful men and women.
Case history
· July 14, 2021. FSB officers searched Anatoliy’s apartment as well as his daughter’s. During the search, Anatoliy’s wife, Tatyana, was pressured by the FSB: “Tell us about everything,” threatening they would have her and her daughter fired from their jobs.
· July 15, 2021. Anatoliy was court-ordered to pretrial detention, preventing him from getting chemotherapy. He was also unable to get the needed painkillers prescribed following spinal surgery
· July 21, 2021. Anatoliy’s lawyer filed an appeal with the Department of Health of the Kurgan Region against the pretrial detention. In the complaint, the lawyer noted: “Such conditions cause systematic and daily pain, comparable to torture, since the pain intensifies and becomes unbearable at times. The threat to life and health is real”
· August 8, 2021. Lawyer filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), regarding the detention
· August 10, 2021. The ECHR sent a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation. Lawyers also appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Kurgan Region, after which the Commissioner initiates an urgent inspection
· August 28, 2021. Anatoliy is released, along with another disabled Jehovah’s Witness, Aleksandr Lubin, whose trial is ongoing (link). After release, an electronic bracelet was placed on Anatoliy’s leg, and every week he had to report to the Penitentiary Inspectorate
· June 7, 2023 Criminal trial begins
For 1.5 months in pretrial detention, Anatoliy received about 500 letters of support from all over the world.
Another six Jehovah’s Witnesses from the Kurgan region are being prosecuted on similar charges.
For more information regarding this case, see this link.
Some statistics about the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia and Crimea
· 2,116 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses raided since 2017 ban
· 821 men and women criminally charged for their belief in God. Of these:
o 434 have spent some time behind bars since 2017. Of these:
§ As of today, 141 men and women remain in prison
· 506 men and women have been added to Russia’s federal list of extremists/terrorists
