Case of Ishberdin and Starikov in Naberezhnye Chelny

Investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Republic of Tatarstan, Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Airat Giniyatullin issued a decision to initiate a criminal case against unidentified persons.

Judge of the Sovetsky District Court of the city of Kazan Sergey Aptulin issues a search in the homes of Robert Ishberdin and Sergey Starikov.

Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB conduct searches in the homes of believers. Sergey Starikov's investigative actions are led by police captain A. K. Zorin. Law enforcement officers behave politely, do not exert pressure. They confiscate communication equipment, flash drives, a book by religious scholar Sergei Ivanenko, and personal records.

Senior investigator of the Department for Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Republic of Tatarstan Airat Giniyatullin interrogates Robert Ishberdin and Sergey Starikov. Believers now act as accused. They take a recognizance agreement.

The case goes to the Naberezhnye Chelny City Court. It is assigned to Emma Kharkovskaya.

The prosecutor is questioning witnesses for the prosecution Aleksandr Sagiyev and religious scholar Sergey Zheleznyak, assistant to one of the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church for missionary work.

Sagiyev gets mixed up with his answers, since he does not personally know Robert Ishberdin and Sergey Starikov, but only heard about the defendants from others. He also says that Jehovah's Witnesses do not participate in military service, but clarifies that they agree to alternative civilian service.

Without grounds Zheleznyak declares that Jehovah's Witnesses oppose the state and its symbols. At the same time, he admits that he is not personally familiar with the beliefs of followers of this religion, and learned this information from the Internet and publications on sectology. When asked to cite facts, he says that he does not have any.

The court is interrogating the key witness for the prosecution, FSB officer M.R. Khusnutdinov. His answers show that the prosecution interprets the usual religious activity of believers as illegal organizational activity. At the same time, the witness relies on the subjective interpretation of "organization", without presenting evidence confirming the guilt of Ishberdin and Starikov.

The defense points to this and asks how the defendants should exercise their legal right to religion. Khusnutdinov replies that they should "sit at home, study [the Bible] and that's it."

The defense notes that even tea drinking requires a certain order. The FSB officer retorts: "The Bible does not say that Jehovah's Witnesses should organize everything like this."

Interrogation of a secret prosecution witness under the pseudonym Lebedev A.M., who has been serving in one of the churches in Naberezhnye Chelny for more than ten years. He repeats almost verbatim the same accusations as the previous participants in the trial. Lebedev claims that Jehovah's Witnesses are dangerous to society, but cannot substantiate this point of view.

At the court session, audio recordings of meetings made by a secret witness "Lebedev A. M." are examined. From these materials, it is important for Jehovah's Witnesses to value marriage, maintain marital fidelity, watch their speech, and avoid hurting words.

The defense filed a motion to recognize the examination of the Kazan Federal University performed by V.N. Rogatin as inadmissible. According to the defense, this institution does not have the legal authority to conduct such a study, and the expert is biased and does not have the necessary qualifications. The judge accepts the petition and says that he will assess the admissibility of the examination when sentencing.

Defense witnesses are being interrogated. One of them, Sergey Starikov's brother, says that he and his household have been Orthodox Christians for many years and that Sergey never "humiliated them on religious grounds, did not mock them, did not agitate them to be Jehovah's Witnesses." For many years, the brothers have maintained good relations and are family friends. Aleksandr Starikov asked the judge not to deprive Sergey of his liberty, since their mother is already 76 years old and such a sentence will negatively affect her health.

The defendants file petitions to attach a number of documents to the case file: an article from the Chelninskaya Gazeta and video reports from Chelny TV and TV-3, telling about how Ishberdin performed alternative service and helped the employer take care of stray animals; a positive characterization of Starikov's neighbors, which says that he "changed the window handles at his own expense in the entrance"; characteristics from Ishberdin's place of work, where it is noted that Robert "during the period of cooperation showed conscientiousness, diligence, decency."

The judge grants the petitions of the defendants.

The defense draws the court's attention to the fact that in the list of founders of the LRO Naberezhnye Chelny, presented in the case, there are no names of the defendants and never have been.

Robert Ishberdin states that the appointment of a number of examinations was carried out with procedural violations - the defendants were either not notified about them at all, or they did it too late, which deprived them of the right to ask their questions to the expert or file petitions.

Ishberdin also asks to summon for questioning a linguistic specialist Radik Galiullin, who took part in a comprehensive study carried out by specialists from the Naberezhnye Chelny Pedagogical University. The judge agrees.

The court is watching three educational cartoons by Jehovah's Witnesses for children. The defense explains that there are more than 40 such materials that teach children high moral values, in particular kindness and forgiveness.

During the debate, the prosecutor requested a sentence for Robert Ishberdin and Sergey Starikov in the form of 7 years in a general regime colony and restriction of freedom for a period of 2 years each.