From Fine to Penal Colony: 68-Year-Old Jehovah’s Witness From the Arctic Convicted of “Extremism”

Six years and three months in a penal colony—that was the sentence handed down on May 4, 2026, by the Polyarny District Court of Murmansk in the case of Anatoliy Odintsov from Snezhnogorsk. Judge Artur Shapotin's decision came as a surprise, since the prosecution had sought only a fine. The believer was taken into custody in the courtroom and transferred to a pretrial detention center

Anatoliy spent most of his life in the Murmansk Region. For many years he worked at various enterprises as a medical equipment engineer and, before the criminal prosecution began, he was employed by a clinical pathology bureau. Odintsov became one of Jehovah's Witnesses in the 1990s. "I worked with people of different faiths—Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Muslims. If I had extremist views, then over more than 30 years of practicing my religion they would have shown themselves at least to some extent," Anatoliy said in his final statement.

Addressing the court, the believer also commented on the worship services that the authorities treated as evidence of wrongdoing: "From the recordings made during the operational-search activities, it's clear they're discussing religious texts, the Bible; prayers are being said, songs are being sung—and there's nothing there that has anything to do with extremism. Quite the opposite: they talk about morality, high moral conduct, family values, and taking care of one's health."

The criminal case against Anatoliy was opened in the spring of 2023. The Investigative Committee deemed it illegal to discuss the Bible among friends and accused Odintsov of organizing the activities of an extremist organization. In total, he spent nearly four months in a pretrial detention center, and then more than eight months under house arrest.

In the Murmansk Region, this is the first sentence for faith that involves an actual term of imprisonment. With the court's decision against Odintsov, the number of elderly Jehovah's Witnesses behind bars has reached 35.