Kuban Jehovah's Witness* Skachidub Released from Prison

Vladimir Skachidub, a disabled person of the third group, who was convicted of meeting with other Jehovah's Witnesses*, served his sentence in a penal colony and returned to the Krasnodar Territory.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, in October 2021, the Pavlovsky District Court of Kuban sentenced Jehovah's Witness* Vladimir Skachidub to four years and two months in prison, considering him a member of an extremist organization. In April 2022, the regional court refused to mitigate the sentence of 60-year-old Skachidub, who insisted on his innocence.

63-year-old Vladimir Skachidub was released from Colony No. 6 in the Ryazan Region on September 5 and returned home to the Krasnodar Region, the human rights project "OVD-Info" reported today (he is included in the register of foreign agents).

He has served his sentence in full

"Taking into account the preferential offset of the time spent in pretrial detention before the appeal, he has served his sentence in full. The believer has a group III disability due to a neurological disease; he suffered a heart attack, after which he had to undergo stenting," the publication says.

Recall that in May 2022, the court also sentenced Lyudmila Shchekoldina from the village of Pavlovskaya to four years in prison, finding her guilty of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization and recruiting believers into its ranks.

Shchekoldina filed an appeal, stating that the court of first instance did not explain why a peaceful way of expressing faith in God was considered a crime, while freedom of religion is enshrined in the Constitution. However, the Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the woman's sentence.

At the same time, back in October 2021, the plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia ruled that individual or joint religious practice, religious rites and ceremonies in themselves should not be considered the activity of an extremist organization if they do not contain signs of extremism. However, in practice, state prosecutors ignore this decision, said Yaroslav Sivulsky, a defender of believers in Neftekumsk and a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Earlier, in October 2020, in Kabardino-Balkaria, a court acquitted local Jehovah's Witness* Yuri Zalipaev, accused of calling for extremism. In September 2021, the court awarded him 500 thousand rubles in compensation, and the prosecutor apologized to the believer for the criminal prosecution. Acquittals of Jehovah's Witnesses* are a rare occurrence in the Russian judicial system, Yaroslav Sivulsky commented on the court's decision at the time.

On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, recognized the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia"* and 395 of its branches as extremist organizations, banning their activities. The consequences of this ban are covered by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "The Justice Department against Jehovah's Witnesses*".

* 396 Russian organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses are recognized as extremist, their activities in Russia are prohibited by a court decision.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.