He is considered guilty under articles on organizing the activities of a banned organization (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and on financing an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.3 of the Criminal Code).

According to Sannikov’s lawyer, several secret witnesses appeared in the case, whose statements did not correspond to reality and indicated a personal dislike for Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is noted that the judge also drew attention to this, who at one of the meetings said that the witness was trying to slander the defendant.

Sannikov was detained at the end of August 2020. According to the investigation, the believer held “illegal religious meetings … with the aim of inciting [the audience] to a hostile perception of people singled out on the basis of religious affiliation.” In the pre-trial detention center, the man’s chronic diseases of the cardiovascular system and abdominal organs worsened. He was also denied access to his wife for more than a year.

• In 2017, the Supreme Court recognized the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia as an extremist organization, liquidated it, and banned its activities in Russia.
• In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the ban on Jehovah’s Witness organizations and the subsequent persecution of believers was illegal.