from http://jw-media.org/rus/20110401.htm

from jw-media.org 

 

 

Verdict in significant Russian criminal trial to be announced April 14, 2011

Public defender: “Not guilty—not before the law, not before man, not before God!”

GORNO-ALTAYSK, Russia—On April 14, 2011, the Gorno-Altaysk City Court will announce the verdict in the criminal case against Aleksandr Kalistratov, who is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He is being accused of inciting religious hatred and enmity under Article 282(1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code.

During the six-month trial, not one of the 71 witnesses who were questioned could confirm that Kalistratov was guilty of inciting religious hatred or enmity. Additionally, Professor Aleksey Nagovitsyn, who spoke in court, declared that the 48 publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses that served as the grounds for the bill of indictment in this criminal case neither in whole nor in part “contained an intent aimed at fomenting hatred or enmity, or the degradation of human dignity on the basis of religious orientation or affiliation with any social group.”

Since no crime was committed in the case, and the charge lacks proper grounds, Kalistratov’s attorneys have every basis for insisting on a verdict of not guilty. One of the defense attorneys, Viktor Shipilov, illustrated this point the following way: “If a triangle has no sides, then that geometrical figure itself does not exist, or, in our case—the crime [does not exist].” Mikhail Odintsov, Kalistratov’s public defender, summed up the essence of the case: “Aleksandr Kalistratov is not guilty—not before the law, not before man, not before God!”

Despite the absence of evidence of a crime, the prosecuting attorney demanded that Kalistratov be sentenced to 160 hours of community service. Viktor Zhenkov, another of Kalistratov’s defense attorneys, stated: “Any guilty verdict in this case, will result in not simply mandatory community service for Kalistratov; but will label all Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia as criminals.”

The verdict will be announced on April 14 at 9:00 a.m. Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, numbering more than 162,000, as well as their fellow believers worldwide await the outcome of one of the most significant criminal cases in Russia’s modern day.

Contacts:
In Russia: Grigory Martynov, tel. +7 812 702 2691
In Belgium: The European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +32 2 782 0015
In USA: J. R. Brown, tel. +1 718 560 5600