Aleksandr Vasilyevich Solovyov (born 13 February 1970) and his wife Anna
had just returned from a trip abroad when FSB officers detained them at Perm-2 railway station on the evening of 22 May 2018, and took them away in separate cars. Investigators searched the Solovyovs' home overnight on 22/23 May 2018. They seized the deeds to the flat, electronic devices, computer drives, their wifi router, photographs, and their collection of Bibles.
Although Anna Solovyova was soon released without charge, Aleksandr was held in a temporary detention centre for two days. Investigators requested that he be placed in pre-trial detention, but on 24 May 2018, Perm's Sverdlovsk District Court ruled that he should instead be put under house arrest.
On 19 November 2018, Solovyov's house arrest was lifted, but he remained under specific restrictions and was not permitted to leave his flat, use the phone or the internet, send or receive post, or speak to anyone else involved in the case.
On 4 July 2019, Judge Denis Shvetsov of Perm's Ordzhonikidze District Court found Solovyov guilty of "participating in the activity of a social or religious association or other organisation in relation to which a court has adopted a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the activity in connection with the carrying out of extremist activity" (Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 2). The Judge fined him 300,000 Roubles. This represents about 11 months' average wages in Perm for those in formal work.
Prosecutors had sought to have Solovyov jailed for three and a half years.
Conviction under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 2 can carry a prison term of two to six years or a fine of 300,000 to 600,000 Roubles.
On 12 July, Forum 18 tried to contact Regional Deputy Prosecutor Aleksandr Deryshov, who signed the indictment against Solovyov, to ask why the prosecutors had requested a jail term and whether they intended to appeal against the judge's decision to fine him. A spokeswoman in Deryshov's office said that she could not answer questions by telephone.
Forum 18 had already put the same questions in writing to the press service of Perm Regional Prosecutor's Office on 10 July. Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the Perm working day on 12 July.
Solovyov has consistently denied any guilt and now intends to appeal, the jw-russia.org website reported on the day of sentencing.
Solovyov stood accused of continuing to take part in the Perm Jehovah's Witness community, while "being aware of the ban on the activities of this organisation in Russia", according to a 1 July statement on the district court's website. Solovyov was previously the chair of the community.
This previously registered local religious organisation was outlawed and dissolved alongside 395 others by
the Supreme Court's 2017 decision to declare the Jehovah's Witness Administrative Centre and all its subdivisions "extremist" , and ban all Jehovah's Witness activity in Russia.
According to the jw-russia.org website, Solovyov was arrested and charged merely for having conversations about the Bible. These were recorded by "a small group of Perm residents, who in the past professed Jehovah's Witness beliefs", and who had received covert recording equipment from the police.
The court press release states that, according to investigators, Solovyov "deliberately conducted propaganda conversations .. using psychological pressure in the form of persuasion, creating a feeling of guilt, in order to continue illegal extremist activities, [and] encouraged [people] to commit extremist actions aimed at promoting the exclusivity and superiority of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, the recruitment of new members .. the destruction of the family, marriage, and family relations, and the distancing [of members] from differently-thinking family environments".
"Betrayal has always been and remains the most vile deed," Solovyov remarked in his closing statement to the court on 27 June. "Those whom I trusted treacherously betrayed me. It was very hard to bear .. but let God be the judge of these people."
The telephone went unanswered in Judge Shvetsov's office on 12 July when Forum 18 called to ask why the court had accepted the evidence of informers.
In response to written questions about why the judge had fined Solovyov, Court chair Veronika Dumushkina told Forum 18 on 12 July that judges "are subject only to the Constitution and federal law", and "consider and resolve criminal cases without external influence. Thus, when sentencing, the court does not refer to the opinion of the prosecution". She added that, as of 12 July, the court had received no prosecution appeal.
Solovyov observed that he had been "a believer for 25 years, and during this time, there has never been an accusation of extremist activities against Jehovah's Witnesses here in Perm .. but on 20 April 2017, they were simply named as such by the decision of the Supreme Court. Of course, this led to the illegal persecution of believers. But at all times it only strengthened and united the servants of God."
"Now, when all over Russia there are more and more criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses for allegedly extremist activities, more and more people are coming to the conclusion: you can disagree with the Witnesses' faith and consider them strange, but to put them on a par with real extremists .. This is complete nonsense, as the President of Russia put it."