In June 2020, a gas welder from Pskov, Gennady Shpakovsky, was sentenced to 6.5 years in a general penal colony. A practicing Jehovah’s Witness, Shpakovsky was convicted simply for expressing his religious beliefs. After Russia moved to criminalise its Jehovah’s Witness community through its counter-extremism laws, Shpakovsky is now the eleventh Jehovah’s Witness who has received a prison sentence in the country - and the verdict against him has turned out to be the severest penalty in Russia so far.
As OVD-Info reports, criminal cases launched against members of the religious group often follow the same pattern. Shpakovsky, who is 61, was found guilty of “organising the activities of the Jehovah’s Witnesses community” in Pskov and “financing the organisation”. His arrest and investigation was carried out by FSB officers.
In court, the prosecution used recordings of Shpakovsky praying as evidence against him.
