Aleksandr Nikolaev with his wife Yevgeniya, mother-in-law and five children at the colony’s exit. September 2023
Aleksandr Nikolaev with his wife Yevgeniya, mother-in-law and five children at the colony’s exit. September 2023
Aleksandr Nikolayev, Father of Five, Convicted for His Faith, Was Released from the Colony
Krasnodar TerritoryOn September 19, 2023, Aleksandr Nikolayev, a father of five, was released from a penal colony in Khadyzhensk, where he spent almost a year for his faith in Jehovah God. The believer was greeted by his wife and children, and mother-in-law. At the colony's exit an FSB and police officers were on duty, and there were several police vans.
The verdict - two and a half years in prison - was handed down to Nikolayev in December 2021. Aleksandr was the first believer to be given a real prison sentence after the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, explaining that participation in worship services is not a reason for conviction under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Despite this, the man was found guilty of extremism for reading a Bible passage via video conferencing.
Aleksandr was detained in September 2021. In total, he spent thirteen months in a pre-trial detention center and eleven months in a penal colony. For some time, he was held in strict conditions of detention. The believer was also denied parole. All this time, Aleksandr was strengthened by letters of support coming from around the world.
In the Krasnodar Territory, 32 of Jehovah's Witnesses are already being persecuted for their faith, six of them are in the prison colonies. On September 15, Maksim Beltikov from the village of Pavlovskaya was released from prison.
