RUSSIA: Alleged
"missionary activity" prosecutions continue
By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18
1 March 2017
Bhagavad Gita also to be
destroyed?
On 9 January Hare Krishna
devotee Andrei Sysolyatin was convicted for alleged unlawful "missionary
activity" in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region. The verdict seen by
Forum 18 states that Sysolyatin offered religious literature to one person in a
street, who then reported him to the police. Judge Yelena Pryadko of Noyabrsk
Magistrate's Court No. 1 fined Sysolyatin 5,000 Roubles and ordered the
destruction of six books. These include a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu
sacred text. Four copies of 'The Vedas: Mysteries from the East', and one copy
of 'One More Chance' were also ordered to be destroyed.
The fine and the destruction
order have not yet come into force. An appeal has been submitted, Sysolyatin's
lawyer Mikhail Frolov told Forum 18 on 1 March. Noyabrsk City Court has not yet
set a hearing date.
This should be "impossible"
in administrative cases involving literature which has not been ruled
"extremist", Frolov told Forum 18. If the destruction order is
carried out, bailiffs would "just throw [the books] in the rubbish
bin", he thinks. He also thought they might be sold if bailiffs think the
books are financially valuable.
When Forum 18 called Noyabrsk
Magistrate's Court No. 1 to ask why the books had been ordered destroyed,
consultant Severina Magomedova said she could not give out information over the
phone. She directed Forum 18 to the office of Judge Pryadko. When Forum 18
called this number and introduced itself, the phone was immediately put down.
RUSSIA: One year of
"anti-missionary" punishments
By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18
8 August 2017
When Noyabrsk Magistrate's
Court No. 1 (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District) found Hare Krishna devotee
Andrei Sysolyatin guilty under Article 5.26 Part 4 ("Russians conducting
missionary activity") of distributing religious literature in the street,
Judge Yelena Pryadko ordered that his copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu sacred
text, four copies of "The Vedas: Mysteries from the East", and one
copy of "One More Chance" should be confiscated and destroyed (see
F18News 1 March 2017 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2261).
Sysolyatin's appeal at Noyabrsk City Court on 29 March 2017 was successful,
however, and both the 9 January destruction order and the 5,000 Rouble fine
were overturned.
