From 19 to 23 March the trial of Baptist Ya. G. Skornyakov took place in Djambul (Kazakh SSR).
He was charged under the following Articles of the Kazakh SSR Criminal Code:
- 170-1 (= Article 190-1, RSFSR Criminal Code);
- 130, pt. 2 (“Violation of the laws separating Church from State and school from Church”);
- 200-1, pt. 1 (“Violation of the person and rights of citizens under the guise of performing religious rites”; pt. 1 of this Article provides for heavier penalties than pt. 2, Chronicle) and
- 164, pt 1 (“Engaging in a forbidden trade”).
Skornyakov was arrested on 3 July 1978 (CCE 51.15).
The judge was E P. Pomerantseva. The state prosecutor was I. G. Gershenzon (he was also the investigator in the case, in direct violation of the Criminal Procedural Code); the defence counsel was Z. I. Palayeva.
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TRIAL
On the first day of the trial Skomyakov renounced his defence counsel, but the court, in violation of the Criminal Procedural Code, ignored his wishes. Skornyakov asked that additional defence witnesses be called: the court refused.
Then Skornyakov refused to give evidence or answer questions, and also declared a hunger-strike.
Because of the situation thus created, the court read out evidence given by Skornyakov at the pre-trial investigation, and then began to question the witnesses. The witnesses asserted that in schools the children of believers were not persecuted and that at Baptist meetings they were called on to disobey Soviet laws.
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On the second day of the trial a tape-recording was played of Skornyakov’s interrogation at the pre-trial investigation; it had been made with his consent. During this interrogation Skornyakov had declared that he had done nothing that could be construed as unlawful. After the tape had been beard Skornyakov confirmed all that he had said, and put a question to witness Vershinina, the headmistress of a school: who had ordered a list to be made of religious parents, and a roster to be set up of teachers who were to attend prayer-meetings?
Vershinina refused to answer this questions and asked the court to give the defendant the heaviest sentence possible. Skornyakov asked the witness if she was suggesting that he should be shot. She replied that, if it lay in her power, she would shoot him. After this, Skomyakov again ceased taking part in the questioning of witnesses.
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On the third day of the trial, witness V. Kolosov refused to answer any questions until the court acceded to Skornyakov’s requests. The court, after a consultation, decided to recommend that charges should be brought against the witness for refusing to give evidence. Then three other witnesses refused to give evidence for the same reason.
Skornyakov said that he did not insist on additional witnesses being summoned, but asked that a few witnesses be invited to the trial from other towns and that two witnesses sitting in the courtroom be heard. In addition, he asked for an opportunity to speak to his lawyer for five minutes. The court satisfied the defendant’s requests in part (by calling the witnesses who were in the courtroom and allowing a consultation with defence counsel). Skornyakov declared that, as his requests had been satisfied, he would participate in the trial and end his hunger-strike.
The witnesses summoned from the courtroom, T. Tsibikova and L. //Esmayeva, did not support the prosecution’s allegations that Skornyakov had called on young people not to obey the authorities.
Witness Vorobyov, in spite of constant attempts by the Judge to interrupt him, insisted on his right to recount what he knew about the case. He specifically refuted every one of the charges.
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On the fourth day of the trial the court began to hear the evidence of expert witness //Vasilyev, who described all the literature confiscated from Skornyakov’s house as slanderous.
However, when asked which particular works were confiscated from the accused, the expert did not reply. Neither did he reply when asked if the Bible contained slanders, and in which book there was an incitement against taking the military oath. As soon as it became clear that the expert was finding it difficult to give a reply, the Judge overruled the question.
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SENTENCE
The state prosecutor asked for the maximum penalty (three years) under Articles 170-1 and 130, for a four-year sentence under Article 200-1 [1] and for six months’ corrective labour under Article 164.
On the final day of the trial the public prosecutor asked the court to award the defendant the maximum penalty under each of the Articles mentioned. The defence counsel, while agreeing that the accused had committed unlawful acts, asked the court not to punish him too severely.
In his final speech, which lasted for almost two hours, Skornyakov explained the essence of his religious activities to the court in detail, and, while not denying the facts in the charges, categorically denied that they constituted crimes in any way.
The court sentenced Skornyakov to the maximum penalty possible; five years in strict-regime labour camps (the maximum penalty under Article 200-1, pt. 1) and confiscation of property.
On 5 April Skornyakov appealed against the sentence.
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NOTES
- On Skornyakov, see Name Index.
Yakov Grigoryevich Skornyakov (b. 1928) was due to be released on 19 July 1983. Like fellow-Baptist Rudolf Klassen, however, he faced further charges in the camp (Vesti, 1983, 13/14-4).
In 1986 Klassen was released from the camps and Skornyakov was placed under surveillance..
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