judge of the Sovetskiy District Court of Chelyabinsk issued a guilty verdict in the case of one of Jehovah's Witnesses 28-year-old Maksim Khamatshin — 6 years in a penal colony The believer was taken into custody in the courtroom He maintains his innocence and intends to appeal this decision In his final statement, Khamatshin said that "knowledge from the Bible helped [him] find the purpose of life and gave him hope for the future." "Is it a crime to give people hope Is it against the law to help people give up bad habits and become happy?" the believer asked rhetorically In September 2022, Maksim's house was searched as part of the case of his fellow believer, Yevgeniy Bushev The Investigative Committee of the Chelyabinsk Region initiated a criminal case against him for organizing the activity of an extremist organization The believer told how friends supported his family during that difficult time: "They helped us so much since everything was scattered on the floor and the investigator and the officers had trampled over it in their shoes The court hearings in the Khamatshin case lasted about a year The charge was based on video and audio recordings of a witness for the prosecution who since 2018 had been providing information to the FSB he could not prove that the defendant had committed anything illegal The prosecutor requested 7 years in a penal colony for Khamatshin The authorities of the Chelyabinsk Region continue to prosecute Jehovah's Witnesses and put them behind bars Due to the actions of investigator Aleksandr Chepenko at least 15 Jehovah's Witnesses have suffered: 4 women and 11 men This website uses cookies. If you give permission, we will use cookies to make your visit more personal, improve its quality and improve the performance of the site based on how you use it. If you reject the use of cookies, some features of the site may not work. You can learn more about the types of cookies we use on our Privacy and Cookie Policy page Only a handful of ships have sailed through the Northeast Passage with tourists.  is credited with organizing the first such transit in 1991 by chartering a Russian icebreaker a nuclear-powered vessel designed to keep trade routes open in the Russian Arctic There were about 100 passengers on board.  Quark soon offered several more voyages across the Northeast Passage on chartered Russian icebreakers including a 1992 trip on Sovetskiy Soyuz and a 1993 trip on sister ship Yamal A voyage in 1994 took place on Kapitan Dranitsyn Quark organized transits in 2008 and 2016 on the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov Several other expedition cruise companies have followed Quark into the Northeast Passage in recent years with trips on chartered Russian vessels no non-Russian vessel had traveled the route with tourists.  German luxury line Hapag-Lloyd Cruises won approval from Russian authorities to send the 175-passenger expedition ship Hanseatic through the waterway becoming the first company to offer a transit on a western cruise vessel Hapag-Lloyd Cruises has since operated three more Northeast Passage transits For now, Hapag-Lloyd remains the only cruise seller operating Northeast Passage voyages on non-Russian vessels. But it soon will have company. Luxury line Silversea in July announced plans to send its 144-passenger expedition ship Silver Explorer across the passage in 2019 and Lindblad Expeditions plans to send its new polar vessel National Geographic Endurance across the waterway in 2020 Also promising its first Northeast Passage trip by 2021 is France-based Ponant Milestones in Northeast Passage cruises:  1991: Quark Expeditions organizes the first transit of the Northeast Passage by a vessel carrying paying passengers The trip takes place on the chartered Russian icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz which follows an east-to-west routing that includes a detour to the North Pole.  1992: Quark offers a second Northeast Passage voyage on the Sovetskiy Soyuz billed as the first crossing with paying passengers on a west-to-east routing 1993: Quark returns to the Northeast Passage with a new vessel 2004: UK-based Poseidon Expeditions operates its first and only Northeast Passage trip using the Russian icebreaker Yamal.  2011: Australia-based Aurora Expeditions operates its first Northeast Passage trip using the ice-rated Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy 2014: Hapag-Lloyd Cruises expedition ship Hanseatic becomes the first western cruise ship to take tourists through the Northeast Passage The ship follows an east-to-west course through the waterway 2015: Hapag-Lloyd Cruises expedition ship Bremen becomes the first western cruise ship to take tourists through the Northeast Passage on a west-to-east routing 2017: New Zealand-based Heritage Expeditions operates its first Northeast Passage trip using the Akademik Shokalskiy.  Four patients at the City Health Center No 1 (a hospital in Dushanbe’s Perviy Sovetskiy area) died of pneumonia on April 22.   The Center Director Khurshed Rustamzoda has confirmed this information in his interview with Asia-Plus.   four our patients died of pneumonia today.  All of them are men over the age of sixty,” Rustamzoda told Asia-Plus Wednesday afternoon.   coronavirus tests were carried out on them and they reportedly returned negative results.    more than 100 people diagnosed with pneumonia are currently undergoing treatment at this hospital.  “Three of them are in serious condition,” the Center director said.  has explained the apparent spike of pneumonia cases to adverse weather conditions which he said had caused a spike in respiratory conditions in particular According to data from the Republican Center for Medical Statistics and Information at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population 12,802 pneumonia patients were reported in the country last year.  The number of lethal cases was not reported    Border-related issues between Afghanistan and Tajikistan reportedly being handled based on international principles How do fines in Tajikistan relate to citizens' actual incomes and new partnerships: Innovation Forum held in Dushanbe A Startup from Tajikistan ranked in the Top three at the Central Asian Startup Cup Somon Air in partnership with Antares LLC (fly.tj) launches direct flights to Sharm El-Sheikh By president’s order Tajik war veterans will receive 50,000 somonis each on the occasion of Victory Day The parents of journalist Rukhshona Hakimova ask President to help secure their daughter's release Dushanbe and Tehran vow to boost economic cooperation Iranian official proposes to launch an air route connecting Dushanbe and Shiraz ADB support for food security to reach US$40 billion by 2030 Sport | Football The 19-year-old joined Pep Guardiola's side earlier this month from Russian side FC Ufa after featuring for Ukraine at Euro 2016 Zinchenko had been at Shaktar Donestsk until 12 months ago and it was while playing for the Ukrainian club that Wenger first spotted the starlet The Frenchman was encouraged to make a bid for Zinchenko following a European youth game Arsene Wenger phoned me," Zinchenko's representative Sandor Varga told Russian newspaper Sovetskiy Sport Nelson shirt number at Fulham revealed as winger makes change after Arsenal exit Raheem Sterling delivers Arsenal title message after 'perfect fit' transfer Arteta facing major problem with no perfect solution for Spurs clash Meet the triathlete breaking new ground for Deaf athletes "Zinchenko was 17 then and Shakhtar played Arsenal in the UEFA Youth League Arsene watched the match and immediately called me "[Arsenal] made an offer but there were some problems and then Zinchenko was discovered by a lot of people." 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