On March 7, 2026, the Moskow District Court of Cheboksary ruled to send Albert Pilshchikov, 45, to a pre-trial detention center. A day earlier, he was detained in Naberezhnye Chelny on the basis of a criminal case.
Over the past 9 years, criminal cases have been initiated against ten Jehovah's Witnesses in Chuvashia. These believers are mostly elderly people. One of the defendants received a 5-year suspended sentence—after serving it, he will turn 90.