Andrei Murych
- Criminal Code
- Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Extremism casesCases against Jehovah's Witnesses
- Verdict
- Fine
- Date of verdict
- 2023-11-23
- Region
- Saratov Oblast
- City
- Balakovo
Case summary
In May-June 2021, residents of Balakovo city were followed and their conversations were recorded. A month later, searches took place in 8 homes inhabited by Jehovah's Witnesses.
Alexei Bogatov, Vladimir Mavrin, Yevgeny Fomashin, Andrei Murych and Sergei Tyurin were placed in a temporary detention centre after overnight interrogations. Two days later they were imprisoned in a pre-trial detention centre 170 kilometres away from their home. The court repeatedly extended their period of detention in the pre-trial detention centre, as a result of which they spent 10 months in custody.
In January 2023, the court decided to change the believers' preventive measure to a ban on certain activities. On 29 June 2023, the case came before the Balakovo District Court of the Saratov Region. On 24 November 2023, Murych was sentenced to a fine of 550,000 roubles, but the amount was reduced to 300,000 after accounting for time spent in custody.
Others charged under Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
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Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database
Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.
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