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FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
===============================================
Thursday 12 January 2012
RUSSIA: APPEAL TO BE FREED FROM JAIL DUE, BUT CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS
CONTINUE
After seven months' imprisonment in Russia, Asylzhan Kelmukhambetov is
hoping that his second appeal against an 18-month jail term - due on 19
January at Orenburg Regional Court - will see him freed, his lawyer Raulya
Rogacheva told Forum 18 News Service on 10 January. She said that:
"Asylzhan has been in the prison hospital since his imprisonment suffering
from the effects of diabetes. I saw him yesterday and he was the worst I
have ever seen him." Although her client does not smoke, he is being held
with others "who smoke constantly". She said that as a devout Muslim he
only eats halal food, yet the warders bring whatever has been prepared,
regardless of whether it meets his religious dietary requirements. The
trial of four more Nursi readers on the same "extremism"-related charges
resumes in a Krasnoyarsk court on 18 January. Muslim readers of Nursi's
works frequently face prosecution under Criminal Code Article 282.2
("Organisation of the activity of an extremist organisation"). Elsewhere in
Russia, other criminal cases are continuing against people for exercising
their freedom of religion or belief. These include Jehovah's Witnesses, who
are normally prosecuted under Criminal Code Article 282.
RUSSIA: APPEAL TO BE FREED FROM JAIL DUE, BUT CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS
CONTINUE
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
After seven months' imprisonment in Russia, Asylzhan Kelmukhambetov is
hoping that his second appeal against his 18-month prison term - due on 19
January at Orenburg Regional Court - will see him freed from prison, his
lawyer Raulya Rogacheva told Forum 18 News Service on 10 January. She is
also very concerned about the state of his health. Like many Muslims who
read the works of the late Turkish theologian Said Nursi, Kelmukhambetov
was imprisoned on "extremism"-related charges. The trial of four more Nursi
readers on the same charges resumes in a Krasnoyarsk court on 18 January.
Muslim readers of Nursi's works frequently face prosecution under Criminal
Code Article 282.2 ("Organisation of the activity of an extremist
organisation"). The Russian authorities insist they belong to an
organisation named Nurdzhular, which was banned as an extremist
organisation by Russia's Supreme Court in April 2008. However, Nursi
readers insist they belong to no organisation, but simply read his books to
help them understand their faith better (see F18News 29 May 2008
).
"We do not consider justified the ban on the books of the theologian Said
Nursi as extremist, nor the ban on the Nurdzhular organisation, as such an
organisation does not exist in Russia," notes the Moscow-based Sova Centre.
The independent human rights centre has long tracked the use of
extremism-related laws to punish religious believers and others. "In
practice, prosecutors use the mere study of banned books by Nursi as proof
of membership in it".
As the number of "extremism" prosecutions continued to rise, in June 2011
Russia's Supreme Court made clear that cases under "extremism"-related
Articles of the Criminal Code should be very carefully and narrowly framed.
But this has not stopped cases against Muslim readers of Nursi's works and
Jehovah's Witnesses (see F18News 19 July 2011
).
The criminal trial of a Jehovah's Witness married couple, Andrei and
Lyutsiya Raitin, on "extremism" charges under Criminal Code Article 282
("Actions directed at the incitement of hatred [nenavist] or enmity
[vrazhda], as well as the humiliation of an individual or group of persons
on the basis of .. attitude to religion, .. conducted publicly or through
the media") is due to resume on 23 January. Jehovah's Witnesses describe
the accusations as "baseless", and have pointed out to Forum 18 that the
same day the Raitins' trial began - 22 December 2011 - fellow Jehovah's
Witness Aleksandr Kalistratov was finally acquitted on exactly the same
charges. "Unlike Kalistratov, the Raitins held no position of
responsibility in their local community," Jehovah's Witness spokesperson
Grigory Martynov told Forum 18. "They're just ordinary members of the
community".(see F18News 10 January 2012
).
Article 282.2 "extremism" criminal punishments changed
An extra possibility for punishments under Criminal Code Article 282.2 was
added in the Law amending various Articles of the Criminal Code and other
Laws. This was approved by the State Duma on 17 November 2011, signed by
President Dmitry Medvedev on 7 December 2011, and added a forced labour
possibility. At the same time, punishments under Criminal Code Article 282
were also both increased and added to. Article 282 is the usual choice of
prosecutors seeking to punish Jehovah's Witnesses exercising their freedom
of religion or belief. However, Article 282.2 is the usual choice of
prosecutors seeking to punish Muslim readers of Nursi's works exercising
their freedom of religion or belief (see F18News 10 January 2012
).
Russian "anti-extremism" legislation - including Articles 282 and 282.2 -
has systemic problems, as noted in a commentary by Alexander Verkhovsky of
the SOVA Center at F18News 19 July 2010
.
Article 282.2, Part 1 punishes: "Organisation of the activity of a social
or religious association or other organisation in relation to which a court
has adopted a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the
activity in connection with the carrying out of extremist activity".
Punishments under Article 282.2, Part 1 are now: "by means of a fine of
between 100,000 Roubles [19,000 Norwegian Kroner, 2,500 Euros, or 3,170 US
Dollars] to 300,000 Roubles [57,000 Norwegian Kroner, 7,500 Euros, or 9,510
US Dollars],
or of the level of pay or other income of the convicted person for a period
of between one and two years,
or forced labour for a period of up to three years with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to two years [a new provision],
or arrest for a period of between four and six months,
or deprivation of freedom for a period of up to three years with of without
deprivation of the right to carry out specific duties or to engage in a
specific activity for a period of up to ten years and with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to two years".
Article 282.2, Part 2 punishes: "Participation in the activity of a social
or religious association or other organisation in relation to which a court
has adopted a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the
activity in connection with the carrying out of extremist activity".
Punishments under Article 282.2, Part 2 are now: "by means of a fine of up
to 200,000 Roubles [38,000 Norwegian Kroner, 5,000 Euros, or 6,340 US
Dollars],
or of the level of pay or other income of the convicted person for a period
of up to 18 months,
or forced labour for a period of up to two years with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to one year [a new provision],
or arrest for a period of up to four months,
or deprivation of freedom for a period of up to two years with of without
deprivation of the right to carry out specific duties or to engage in a
specific activity for a period of up to five years and with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to one year".
The forced labour penalties come into force at the beginning of 2013.
In decisions linked to "extremism" legislation, numerous lower court
decisions have found - on highly questionable grounds - that Russian
translations of the Islamic theological works of Said Nursi and Jehovah's
Witness publications are "extremist" and so placed them on the Justice
Ministry's Federal List of Extremist Materials (see 'The battle with
"religious extremism" - a return to past methods?' F18News 28 April 2009
). Once materials are
on the Federal List, it is then illegal to distribute or store them for
distribution.
Such lower court decisions are of great help to officials seeking to
prosecute Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslim readers of the works of Said Nursi
for exercising their freedom of religion or belief. A total of 68 Jehovah's
Witness publications, as well as 15 Russian translations of Nursi's works,
have already been ruled "extremist" However, a recent attempt to find a key
Hare Krishna book, the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, "extremist" failed in court
in Tomsk (see F18News 5 January 2012
).
Orenburg second appeal
The 42 year-old Kelmukhambetov become the first Muslim reader of Nursi's
works in Russia to receive a criminal sentence of imprisonment, when he was
sentenced in June 2011. After a trial in the Urals town of Orenburg lasting
nearly a year, Magistrate Valeri Vorobyev at Judicial Unit No. 3 of the
Lenin District sentenced Kelmukhambetov under Criminal Code Article 282.2,
Part 1 to 18 months' imprisonment. He had not been in detention during the
trial, so was arrested in the courtroom when the sentence was handed down.
Once imprisoned, he was immediately sent to the prison hospital (see
F18News 12 September 2011
).
Kelmukhambetov appealed against his sentence, but Judge Svetlana Shabanova
at Orenburg's Lenin District Court rejected his appeal in late 2011. The
court website does not appear to list the case and on 12 January the court
refused to give Forum 18 the date of the decision.
He then appealed further to Orenburg Regional Court. The court website
notes that the case arrived at the court on 10 January and lists the appeal
hearing for the morning of 19 January. It gives no name of the judge or
judges due to hear the appeal, and the court refused on 12 January to give
Forum 18 any further information on the case.
"He was the worst I have ever seen him"
Kelmukhambetov's lawyer Rogacheva insists the case against her client is
"unfounded" and that he has been punished merely for his religious
activity.
She also told Forum 18 from Orenburg that: "Asylzhan has been in the prison
hospital since his imprisonment suffering from the effects of diabetes,"
she complained. "I saw him yesterday and he was the worst I have ever seen
him."
Rogacheva also noted that Kelmukhambetov is not being treated adequately in
Orenburg's Investigation Isolation Prison No. 1, where he was taken
immediately after his sentencing. "He is being held there illegally. Plus
his health is bad - he's in a very bad state, coughing and suffering from
dizziness."
Although her client does not smoke, he is being held with others "who smoke
constantly". She said that as a devout Muslim he only eats halal food, yet
the warders bring whatever has been prepared, regardless of whether it
meets his religious dietary requirements.
Krasnoyarsk trial resumes
The trial under Criminal Code Article 282.2 of four more Muslim readers of
Nursi's works resumes in a court in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on 18
January. The trial of Andrei Dedkov, Yevgeni Petry, Aleksey Gerasimov and
Fizuli Askarov began under Magistrate Natalya Yermolenko at Judicial Unit
No. 80 in the city's Soviet District with the first of several preliminary
hearings on 31 August 2011. Dedkov and Petry are being tried under Article
282.2, Part 1, while Gerasimov and Askarov under Article 282.2, Part 2 (see
F18News 31 August 2011
).
The Secretary at Judicial Unit No. 80 - who did not give her name -
described the trial to Forum 18 on 12 January as a "major case" for
Magistrate Yermolenko, the only Magistrate for her Judicial Unit. "She
approaches the case with a sense of responsibility." However, the Secretary
was reluctant to discuss the trial, including when and how many hearings
have already taken place and when the trial is expected to conclude.
Four trial hearings have already taken place, the most recent in early
December 2011, Nursi reader Dedkov told Forum 18 on 12 January. "At one
hearing an FSB security service officer was questioned, while at two other
hearings secretly recorded video of a group of us meeting to drink tea and
discuss our faith was shown," he added. "At the final hearing secretly
intercepted telephone calls were heard." Dedkov said twelve volumes of
evidence still needs to be examined.
"We don't expect the trial to reach a conclusion for another three or four
months," his co-defendant Petry complained to Forum 18 from Krasnoyarsk the
same day. "This whole case has been going on for two years."
Petry complained that he and his fellow defendants have had to devote so
much time to fighting the case. "It is difficult - we can't leave town
without the Magistrate's permission, let alone the country, and haven't
been able to get proper work," he told Forum 18. "There's also the worry
over the case and we have also been publicly insulted on television."
Petry was sceptical that the Magistrate will rule in their favour. "The
court is against us and in any case there's been an order from above to
sentence us," he claimed. He insisted he not only wants the accusations to
be withdrawn, he also wants those who brought the case to be fined for
bringing accusations which he claims they know are unfounded.
Chelyabinsk criminal investigation continues
Meanwhile, investigators in Chelyabinsk east of the Urals are continuing to
investigate local Muslim readers of Nursi's works under Article 282.2, Part
2, Yuri Vlasov, Head of the Department for Especially Important Cases of
the Chelyabinsk Region Investigation Committee, confirmed to Forum 18 from
the city on 12 January. The case is led in Vlasov's department by Pavel
Derkho. Vlasov refused to say if the case is against any named individuals,
when it was likely to be completed or to give any other information.
On 8 August 2011, a summer home in the village of Aznalino in Safakuleev
District of Kurgan Region owned by Nursi reader Farida Ulmaskulova was
raided. The village is about 90 minutes drive from Chelyabinsk, from where
the raid was organised. Ulmaskulova was teaching seven girls between the
ages of 11 and 17 the principles of Islam and reading the Koran, using a
course devised by the Chelyabinsk Spiritual Union of Muslims. Almost
simultaneously, two homes in Chelyabinsk - Ulmaskulova's home and the home
of Gulnaz Valeyeva - were raided (see F18News 31 August 2011
).
Ulmaskulova told Forum 18 from Chelyabinsk on 12 January 2012 that
investigators have not told her or Valeyeva who is being investigated or
what specific charges they might face. "We have been questioned as
witnesses so far, not as suspects." However, she fears that she and
Valeyeva will eventually be charged and brought to trial. She said she had
not been questioned since September 2011, though other family members were
summoned and questioned later in 2011. "Two of the girls I have taught were
summoned and questioned this January," she told Forum 18.
Ulmaskulova said the whole experience has been "unpleasant". She also
complained that books confiscated from her - including those by Said Nursi
- have not been returned. "I read them regularly," she noted. Nor has her
mobile phone or computer discs taken from her been returned.
Novosibirsk criminal investigation continues
Two Muslim readers of Nursi's works in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk,
Ilham Merazhov and Kamil Odilov, are being investigated under Article
282.2. As part of the investigation, a private home where a group of their
friends were meeting was raided in October 2011, followed by a raid on
Merazhov's own home (see F18News 14 October 2011
).
The new investigator in the case at Dzerzhinsky Inter-District
Investigation Committee, Stanislav Leiba, told Forum 18 from Novosibirsk on
10 January that the investigation period has just been prolonged and "no
court hearings are expected yet". He refused to discuss any other aspect of
the case.
Merazhov and Odilov tried to challenge the legality of the search, claiming
that the search warrant made no mention of what officers were looking for.
However, their suit was rejected on 5 December 2011 by Novosibirsk Regional
Court, Merazhov told Forum 18 from Novosibirsk on 12 January.
The two also tried to challenge the opening of the criminal case against
them. "The case is completely unfounded," Merazhov insisted. Although the
challenge should have been heard within five days, it was "dragged out" for
two months. Finally Judge Igor Temirsultanov of Novosibirsk's October
District Court rejected the suit on 27 December 2011, Merazhov said. They
have now appealed against this ruling to Novosibirsk Regional Court.
Merazhov lamented that he has not been able to get back his books, computer
and mobile phone confiscated from him during the raid. "I work at the
university and need my computer," he told Forum 18. "The first investigator
who has now been removed, Aleksei Los, told me I would get them back in a
week. But at the 27 December court hearing, Leiba told me all the
confiscated items have been sent to the FSB."
Recent sentences
Among other recent prosecutions of Muslim readers of Nursi's works, Rashid
Abdulov was sentenced under Article 282.2 in the Volga city of Ulyanovsk in
September 2011 to one-year's compulsory work, but was freed because he had
already spent nearly eight months in custody (see F18News 12 September 2011
).
Six Nursi readers were convicted under Article 282.2 at a two-hour trial in
October 2011 in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, on the River Volga east of the
capital Moscow. Three received prison terms, with Elshan Gasanov receiving
one year's imprisonment (see F18News 14 October 2011
). (END)
For more background, see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey at
.
Analysis of the background to Russian policy on "religious extremism" is
available in two articles: - 'How the battle with "religious extremism"
began' (F18News 27 April 2009
- and - 'The battle
with "religious extremism" - a return to past methods?' (F18News 28 April
2009 ).
A personal commentary by Irina Budkina, Editor of the
Old Believer website, about continuing denial of
equality to Russia's religious minorities, is at F18News 26 May 2005
.
A personal commentary by Alexander Verkhovsky, Director of the SOVA Center
for Information and Analysis , about the
systemic problems of Russian anti-extremism legislation, is at F18News 19
July 2010 .
Reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia can be found
at .
A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at
.
A printer-friendly map of Russia is available at
.
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
===============================================
Thursday 12 January 2012
RUSSIA: APPEAL TO BE FREED FROM JAIL DUE, BUT CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS
CONTINUE
After seven months' imprisonment in Russia, Asylzhan Kelmukhambetov is
hoping that his second appeal against an 18-month jail term - due on 19
January at Orenburg Regional Court - will see him freed, his lawyer Raulya
Rogacheva told Forum 18 News Service on 10 January. She said that:
"Asylzhan has been in the prison hospital since his imprisonment suffering
from the effects of diabetes. I saw him yesterday and he was the worst I
have ever seen him." Although her client does not smoke, he is being held
with others "who smoke constantly". She said that as a devout Muslim he
only eats halal food, yet the warders bring whatever has been prepared,
regardless of whether it meets his religious dietary requirements. The
trial of four more Nursi readers on the same "extremism"-related charges
resumes in a Krasnoyarsk court on 18 January. Muslim readers of Nursi's
works frequently face prosecution under Criminal Code Article 282.2
("Organisation of the activity of an extremist organisation"). Elsewhere in
Russia, other criminal cases are continuing against people for exercising
their freedom of religion or belief. These include Jehovah's Witnesses, who
are normally prosecuted under Criminal Code Article 282.
RUSSIA: APPEAL TO BE FREED FROM JAIL DUE, BUT CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS
CONTINUE
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
After seven months' imprisonment in Russia, Asylzhan Kelmukhambetov is
hoping that his second appeal against his 18-month prison term - due on 19
January at Orenburg Regional Court - will see him freed from prison, his
lawyer Raulya Rogacheva told Forum 18 News Service on 10 January. She is
also very concerned about the state of his health. Like many Muslims who
read the works of the late Turkish theologian Said Nursi, Kelmukhambetov
was imprisoned on "extremism"-related charges. The trial of four more Nursi
readers on the same charges resumes in a Krasnoyarsk court on 18 January.
Muslim readers of Nursi's works frequently face prosecution under Criminal
Code Article 282.2 ("Organisation of the activity of an extremist
organisation"). The Russian authorities insist they belong to an
organisation named Nurdzhular, which was banned as an extremist
organisation by Russia's Supreme Court in April 2008. However, Nursi
readers insist they belong to no organisation, but simply read his books to
help them understand their faith better (see F18News 29 May 2008
).
"We do not consider justified the ban on the books of the theologian Said
Nursi as extremist, nor the ban on the Nurdzhular organisation, as such an
organisation does not exist in Russia," notes the Moscow-based Sova Centre.
The independent human rights centre has long tracked the use of
extremism-related laws to punish religious believers and others. "In
practice, prosecutors use the mere study of banned books by Nursi as proof
of membership in it".
As the number of "extremism" prosecutions continued to rise, in June 2011
Russia's Supreme Court made clear that cases under "extremism"-related
Articles of the Criminal Code should be very carefully and narrowly framed.
But this has not stopped cases against Muslim readers of Nursi's works and
Jehovah's Witnesses (see F18News 19 July 2011
).
The criminal trial of a Jehovah's Witness married couple, Andrei and
Lyutsiya Raitin, on "extremism" charges under Criminal Code Article 282
("Actions directed at the incitement of hatred [nenavist] or enmity
[vrazhda], as well as the humiliation of an individual or group of persons
on the basis of .. attitude to religion, .. conducted publicly or through
the media") is due to resume on 23 January. Jehovah's Witnesses describe
the accusations as "baseless", and have pointed out to Forum 18 that the
same day the Raitins' trial began - 22 December 2011 - fellow Jehovah's
Witness Aleksandr Kalistratov was finally acquitted on exactly the same
charges. "Unlike Kalistratov, the Raitins held no position of
responsibility in their local community," Jehovah's Witness spokesperson
Grigory Martynov told Forum 18. "They're just ordinary members of the
community".(see F18News 10 January 2012
).
Article 282.2 "extremism" criminal punishments changed
An extra possibility for punishments under Criminal Code Article 282.2 was
added in the Law amending various Articles of the Criminal Code and other
Laws. This was approved by the State Duma on 17 November 2011, signed by
President Dmitry Medvedev on 7 December 2011, and added a forced labour
possibility. At the same time, punishments under Criminal Code Article 282
were also both increased and added to. Article 282 is the usual choice of
prosecutors seeking to punish Jehovah's Witnesses exercising their freedom
of religion or belief. However, Article 282.2 is the usual choice of
prosecutors seeking to punish Muslim readers of Nursi's works exercising
their freedom of religion or belief (see F18News 10 January 2012
).
Russian "anti-extremism" legislation - including Articles 282 and 282.2 -
has systemic problems, as noted in a commentary by Alexander Verkhovsky of
the SOVA Center at F18News 19 July 2010
.
Article 282.2, Part 1 punishes: "Organisation of the activity of a social
or religious association or other organisation in relation to which a court
has adopted a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the
activity in connection with the carrying out of extremist activity".
Punishments under Article 282.2, Part 1 are now: "by means of a fine of
between 100,000 Roubles [19,000 Norwegian Kroner, 2,500 Euros, or 3,170 US
Dollars] to 300,000 Roubles [57,000 Norwegian Kroner, 7,500 Euros, or 9,510
US Dollars],
or of the level of pay or other income of the convicted person for a period
of between one and two years,
or forced labour for a period of up to three years with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to two years [a new provision],
or arrest for a period of between four and six months,
or deprivation of freedom for a period of up to three years with of without
deprivation of the right to carry out specific duties or to engage in a
specific activity for a period of up to ten years and with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to two years".
Article 282.2, Part 2 punishes: "Participation in the activity of a social
or religious association or other organisation in relation to which a court
has adopted a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the
activity in connection with the carrying out of extremist activity".
Punishments under Article 282.2, Part 2 are now: "by means of a fine of up
to 200,000 Roubles [38,000 Norwegian Kroner, 5,000 Euros, or 6,340 US
Dollars],
or of the level of pay or other income of the convicted person for a period
of up to 18 months,
or forced labour for a period of up to two years with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to one year [a new provision],
or arrest for a period of up to four months,
or deprivation of freedom for a period of up to two years with of without
deprivation of the right to carry out specific duties or to engage in a
specific activity for a period of up to five years and with or without
limitations on freedom for a period of up to one year".
The forced labour penalties come into force at the beginning of 2013.
In decisions linked to "extremism" legislation, numerous lower court
decisions have found - on highly questionable grounds - that Russian
translations of the Islamic theological works of Said Nursi and Jehovah's
Witness publications are "extremist" and so placed them on the Justice
Ministry's Federal List of Extremist Materials (see 'The battle with
"religious extremism" - a return to past methods?' F18News 28 April 2009
). Once materials are
on the Federal List, it is then illegal to distribute or store them for
distribution.
Such lower court decisions are of great help to officials seeking to
prosecute Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslim readers of the works of Said Nursi
for exercising their freedom of religion or belief. A total of 68 Jehovah's
Witness publications, as well as 15 Russian translations of Nursi's works,
have already been ruled "extremist" However, a recent attempt to find a key
Hare Krishna book, the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, "extremist" failed in court
in Tomsk (see F18News 5 January 2012
).
Orenburg second appeal
The 42 year-old Kelmukhambetov become the first Muslim reader of Nursi's
works in Russia to receive a criminal sentence of imprisonment, when he was
sentenced in June 2011. After a trial in the Urals town of Orenburg lasting
nearly a year, Magistrate Valeri Vorobyev at Judicial Unit No. 3 of the
Lenin District sentenced Kelmukhambetov under Criminal Code Article 282.2,
Part 1 to 18 months' imprisonment. He had not been in detention during the
trial, so was arrested in the courtroom when the sentence was handed down.
Once imprisoned, he was immediately sent to the prison hospital (see
F18News 12 September 2011
).
Kelmukhambetov appealed against his sentence, but Judge Svetlana Shabanova
at Orenburg's Lenin District Court rejected his appeal in late 2011. The
court website does not appear to list the case and on 12 January the court
refused to give Forum 18 the date of the decision.
He then appealed further to Orenburg Regional Court. The court website
notes that the case arrived at the court on 10 January and lists the appeal
hearing for the morning of 19 January. It gives no name of the judge or
judges due to hear the appeal, and the court refused on 12 January to give
Forum 18 any further information on the case.
"He was the worst I have ever seen him"
Kelmukhambetov's lawyer Rogacheva insists the case against her client is
"unfounded" and that he has been punished merely for his religious
activity.
She also told Forum 18 from Orenburg that: "Asylzhan has been in the prison
hospital since his imprisonment suffering from the effects of diabetes,"
she complained. "I saw him yesterday and he was the worst I have ever seen
him."
Rogacheva also noted that Kelmukhambetov is not being treated adequately in
Orenburg's Investigation Isolation Prison No. 1, where he was taken
immediately after his sentencing. "He is being held there illegally. Plus
his health is bad - he's in a very bad state, coughing and suffering from
dizziness."
Although her client does not smoke, he is being held with others "who smoke
constantly". She said that as a devout Muslim he only eats halal food, yet
the warders bring whatever has been prepared, regardless of whether it
meets his religious dietary requirements.
Krasnoyarsk trial resumes
The trial under Criminal Code Article 282.2 of four more Muslim readers of
Nursi's works resumes in a court in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on 18
January. The trial of Andrei Dedkov, Yevgeni Petry, Aleksey Gerasimov and
Fizuli Askarov began under Magistrate Natalya Yermolenko at Judicial Unit
No. 80 in the city's Soviet District with the first of several preliminary
hearings on 31 August 2011. Dedkov and Petry are being tried under Article
282.2, Part 1, while Gerasimov and Askarov under Article 282.2, Part 2 (see
F18News 31 August 2011
).
The Secretary at Judicial Unit No. 80 - who did not give her name -
described the trial to Forum 18 on 12 January as a "major case" for
Magistrate Yermolenko, the only Magistrate for her Judicial Unit. "She
approaches the case with a sense of responsibility." However, the Secretary
was reluctant to discuss the trial, including when and how many hearings
have already taken place and when the trial is expected to conclude.
Four trial hearings have already taken place, the most recent in early
December 2011, Nursi reader Dedkov told Forum 18 on 12 January. "At one
hearing an FSB security service officer was questioned, while at two other
hearings secretly recorded video of a group of us meeting to drink tea and
discuss our faith was shown," he added. "At the final hearing secretly
intercepted telephone calls were heard." Dedkov said twelve volumes of
evidence still needs to be examined.
"We don't expect the trial to reach a conclusion for another three or four
months," his co-defendant Petry complained to Forum 18 from Krasnoyarsk the
same day. "This whole case has been going on for two years."
Petry complained that he and his fellow defendants have had to devote so
much time to fighting the case. "It is difficult - we can't leave town
without the Magistrate's permission, let alone the country, and haven't
been able to get proper work," he told Forum 18. "There's also the worry
over the case and we have also been publicly insulted on television."
Petry was sceptical that the Magistrate will rule in their favour. "The
court is against us and in any case there's been an order from above to
sentence us," he claimed. He insisted he not only wants the accusations to
be withdrawn, he also wants those who brought the case to be fined for
bringing accusations which he claims they know are unfounded.
Chelyabinsk criminal investigation continues
Meanwhile, investigators in Chelyabinsk east of the Urals are continuing to
investigate local Muslim readers of Nursi's works under Article 282.2, Part
2, Yuri Vlasov, Head of the Department for Especially Important Cases of
the Chelyabinsk Region Investigation Committee, confirmed to Forum 18 from
the city on 12 January. The case is led in Vlasov's department by Pavel
Derkho. Vlasov refused to say if the case is against any named individuals,
when it was likely to be completed or to give any other information.
On 8 August 2011, a summer home in the village of Aznalino in Safakuleev
District of Kurgan Region owned by Nursi reader Farida Ulmaskulova was
raided. The village is about 90 minutes drive from Chelyabinsk, from where
the raid was organised. Ulmaskulova was teaching seven girls between the
ages of 11 and 17 the principles of Islam and reading the Koran, using a
course devised by the Chelyabinsk Spiritual Union of Muslims. Almost
simultaneously, two homes in Chelyabinsk - Ulmaskulova's home and the home
of Gulnaz Valeyeva - were raided (see F18News 31 August 2011
).
Ulmaskulova told Forum 18 from Chelyabinsk on 12 January 2012 that
investigators have not told her or Valeyeva who is being investigated or
what specific charges they might face. "We have been questioned as
witnesses so far, not as suspects." However, she fears that she and
Valeyeva will eventually be charged and brought to trial. She said she had
not been questioned since September 2011, though other family members were
summoned and questioned later in 2011. "Two of the girls I have taught were
summoned and questioned this January," she told Forum 18.
Ulmaskulova said the whole experience has been "unpleasant". She also
complained that books confiscated from her - including those by Said Nursi
- have not been returned. "I read them regularly," she noted. Nor has her
mobile phone or computer discs taken from her been returned.
Novosibirsk criminal investigation continues
Two Muslim readers of Nursi's works in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk,
Ilham Merazhov and Kamil Odilov, are being investigated under Article
282.2. As part of the investigation, a private home where a group of their
friends were meeting was raided in October 2011, followed by a raid on
Merazhov's own home (see F18News 14 October 2011
).
The new investigator in the case at Dzerzhinsky Inter-District
Investigation Committee, Stanislav Leiba, told Forum 18 from Novosibirsk on
10 January that the investigation period has just been prolonged and "no
court hearings are expected yet". He refused to discuss any other aspect of
the case.
Merazhov and Odilov tried to challenge the legality of the search, claiming
that the search warrant made no mention of what officers were looking for.
However, their suit was rejected on 5 December 2011 by Novosibirsk Regional
Court, Merazhov told Forum 18 from Novosibirsk on 12 January.
The two also tried to challenge the opening of the criminal case against
them. "The case is completely unfounded," Merazhov insisted. Although the
challenge should have been heard within five days, it was "dragged out" for
two months. Finally Judge Igor Temirsultanov of Novosibirsk's October
District Court rejected the suit on 27 December 2011, Merazhov said. They
have now appealed against this ruling to Novosibirsk Regional Court.
Merazhov lamented that he has not been able to get back his books, computer
and mobile phone confiscated from him during the raid. "I work at the
university and need my computer," he told Forum 18. "The first investigator
who has now been removed, Aleksei Los, told me I would get them back in a
week. But at the 27 December court hearing, Leiba told me all the
confiscated items have been sent to the FSB."
Recent sentences
Among other recent prosecutions of Muslim readers of Nursi's works, Rashid
Abdulov was sentenced under Article 282.2 in the Volga city of Ulyanovsk in
September 2011 to one-year's compulsory work, but was freed because he had
already spent nearly eight months in custody (see F18News 12 September 2011
).
Six Nursi readers were convicted under Article 282.2 at a two-hour trial in
October 2011 in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, on the River Volga east of the
capital Moscow. Three received prison terms, with Elshan Gasanov receiving
one year's imprisonment (see F18News 14 October 2011
). (END)
For more background, see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey at
.
Analysis of the background to Russian policy on "religious extremism" is
available in two articles: - 'How the battle with "religious extremism"
began' (F18News 27 April 2009
- and - 'The battle
with "religious extremism" - a return to past methods?' (F18News 28 April
2009 ).
A personal commentary by Irina Budkina, Editor of the
Old Believer website, about continuing denial of
equality to Russia's religious minorities, is at F18News 26 May 2005
.
A personal commentary by Alexander Verkhovsky, Director of the SOVA Center
for Information and Analysis , about the
systemic problems of Russian anti-extremism legislation, is at F18News 19
July 2010 .
Reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia can be found
at .
A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at
.
A printer-friendly map of Russia is available at
.
(END)
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