The occupation authorities accuse two Jehovah’s witnesses from Krasnogvardeisk, Sergei Parfenovich and Yuri Gerashchenko, of organising the activities of an extremist organisation. The occupation prosecutor requested up to 7 years in prison for them.
This is reported by the Crimean human rights group (CHRG).
The organisation noted that the defendants Parfenovich and Gerashchenko announced the last words, stressing the invalidity of the charges against them.
According to human rights activists, the next hearing is scheduled for 1 July.
“In September 2022, the family of Sergei Parfenovich, father of six children, was searched for 6 hours by armed law enforcers. After that Parfenovich was detained and taken to Simferopol for questioning. He spent 2 days in the temporary detention centre and a month and a half in the pre-trial detention centre, and then he was transferred to house arrest. The case was conducted by “investigator” V.A. Novikov, who also investigated the case of religious believers from Yalta. He accused Sergei of organising the activities of an extremist organisation.” – the report of human rights activists says.
The second detainee, Yuri Gerashchenko, was charged with the same offence in 2023 as part of the case. According to the CHRG, in July 2023, the case went to “court”.
Photo: Crimean Human Rights Group