Father of Child with Disability Received Suspended Term for Faith

On January 20, 2025, the judge of the Urup District Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Galina Yevsegneyeva, issued a verdict in the case of Aleksey Pasynkov: 6 years of suspended sentence. The court considered the joint reading of the Bible by believers to be extremist activity.

Aleksey does not agree with the decision and believes that the court has not cited a single fact proving his guilt. He noted that the commission of experts did not find any signs of extremism in the material proposed for study. Witnesses for the prosecution are either not acquainted with the defendant or give information from someone else's words.

The Investigative Committee for the Karachay-Cherkessia opened a criminal case against Aleksey Pasynkov in December 2022, but the persecution of the believer's family began a year earlier, after the first search. They took a recognizance agreement from Aleksey, and almost a year later his case went to court.

Investigator A. A. Ionov charged him with organizing the activities of an extremist organization. Aleksey said: "In the charges, religious lectures, discussion of religious topics, worship, discussion of the Holy Scriptures, maintaining contact with fellow believers are listed as illegal actions imputed to me." He noted that all these actions are not prohibited by law.

The life of the Pasynkovs was not easy anyway. "Our son has a disability, and he needs constant care, as he does not have self-care skills," Aleksey said at the trial. "And it takes a lot of energy from us."

The persecution for his faith affected not only Aleksey, but also all his close relatives: law enforcement officers also opened criminal cases against his wife and mother, and his brothers were searched.