Petersburg Scientologists released from punishment due to expired terms
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On Thursday, the Nevsky District Court of St. Petersburg put an end to the long case of St. Petersburg Scientologists. Church leader Ivan Matsitsky was found guilty on several counts, from illegal business activities to organizing an extremist community. Nevertheless, he was released from custody right in the courtroom: some of the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation imputed to him had expired, and according to others, the court counted the time spent in the pre-trial detention center. Four of his companions were sentenced to fines. The $360,000 seized from the defendants was confiscated by the court in favor of the state.
The “Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg” has been operating since 1992 and all this time unsuccessfully tried to register as a religious organization. In 2016, the FSB conducted large-scale searches in the offices of the organization and the apartments of a number of its adherents. According to investigators, Scientologists were engaged in illegal commercial activities (Article 171 of the Criminal Code), which brought them about 280 million rubles. It was mainly about providing “consulting services”, holding training events and selling literature. The prosecution argued that most of the funds received were not reflected in the accounts or were registered as donations from private individuals.
The case file mentioned that “3,600 sheets of paper, similar in appearance to 100 US dollar banknotes,” were found in the church premises.
In 2017, the security forces detained Mr. Matsitsky, Galina Shurinova, Executive Director of the Church, Sahib Aliyev, Chief Accountant, Anastasia Terentyeva, Head of the Security Service, and Konstantin Esaulkova, her Deputy. With the exception of the latter, everyone was placed in a pre-trial detention center, Ms. Esaulkova was placed under house arrest for health reasons. Later, the rest were released from custody, but in March 2021, Ivan Matsitsky was again sent to the isolation ward. He repeatedly complained about his cellmates, who, according to him, gave him physical and psychological problems.
After being detained in 2017, the human rights group sent appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that the persecution of Scientologists violates the constitutional right of citizens to “choose and spread religious beliefs”, and that the actions for which the defendants ended up in prison “are committed daily in all communities of Scientologists in more than 160 countries of the world, and nowhere is such a practice not recognized as a criminal offence. Human rights activists also compared the persecution of Scientologists with the persecution of believers in the USSR.
In 2019, the FSB opened a criminal case against the leadership of the religious group on the legalization of 17 million rubles. (part 2 of article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Later, two more offenses appeared – incitement to hatred or hostility, as well as humiliation of human dignity (Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as the organization of an extremist community (Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The investigation stated that Scientologists created an extremist community and promoted the exclusivity of their religion. At the same time, the leader of the Scientologists, Ivan Matsitsky, was accused of psychological pressure on the guilty followers, who were forbidden to participate in spiritual practices.
Consideration of the case in court began in August 2020, all defendants denied their guilt. In a debate that summer, the defense insisted on a full acquittal. The prosecution demanded that Ivan Matsitsky be sentenced to eight years of general regime; Galina Shurinova, for Anastasia Terentyeva and Sahiba Aliyeva were asked for six years, for Constance Esaulkova – three years. The court eventually appointed Ivan Matsitsky 6.5 years in prison with a ban on work in public and religious organizations for two years. He was released from punishment “upon departure”. The rest were fined from 600 thousand to 1.3 million rubles. At the same time, according to Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, all the defendants were released from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. And “papers similar to cash” were confiscated to the state.
After the announcement of the verdict, the Scientologists did not hide their joy. They came to the courtroom with bags, in which, apparently, the necessary things were prepared in advance in case of deprivation of liberty. In a conversation with Kommersant, they made it clear that they did not agree with the decision.
However, to a direct question about the appeal, the defenders replied that they must first get their hands on a decision. Lawyer Vitaly Ivashkov, representing the interests of Mr. Matsitsky, limited himself to a comment: “A person at large is already good.”
We add that since 2011, four materials of Scientologists have been included in the list of extremist literature, and in 2021, two foreign organizations of Hubbard’s followers were declared undesirable in the Russian Federation. Without trainings and public events, Russian Scientologists remained a small group of enthusiasts with neither money nor influence, says Roman Lunkin, head of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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