Name: Khabrik Kirill Alekseyevich
Date of Birth: April 24, 1989
Current status: defendant
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 84 day in a pre-trial detention, 274 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: prohibition of certain actions

Biography

Kirill Khabrik, according to those who know him, is a good-natured, calm person and a man of few words. In February 2023, he was taken into custody for reading the Bible with friends. Because of this, the law enforcement officers suspected him to be "an extremist who poses a threat to the constitutional order."

Kirill was born in 1989 in the city of Kingisepp (Leningrad Region). His mother has an education as foundry technician and has been a chemistry teacher for many years. The father is no longer alive. Kirill has an elder and a younger brother.

The young man graduated from a music school with a degree in piano. Since childhood, he was a calm, obedient and determined child. His father, who had worked as a television and radio communications engineer, instilled in his son a love of technology and taught him how to solder.

After school, Kirill chose to become an electromechanic. He studied remotely at university and worked at the same time as an electrician in a construction company. Years later, he got a job with his father in a company providing digital services and maintenance. A few years later, Kirill was invited to work in another telecom company as an engineer of linear communication facilities and subscriber units, where he worked until he was taken into custody.

Kirill's mother tried to instill a love for the Bible in her sons from childhood. Kirill saw that the moral norms from the Bible have a positive effect on the lives of young people. This influenced his choice of path in life. In 2007, he made the decision to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Later, his younger brother joined him.

In 2015, Kirill married Alvina, who is a teacher of Russian language and literature by education. She shares his outlook on life. Alvina works as the head librarian in the children's library. Readers love her and miss her in her absence. Alvina has a son from her first marriage. He is an electrician in college and enjoys graphic design and photo editing.

Kirill likes to fix his car on his own according to the instructions from the video tutorials. Together with his younger brother, before the criminal prosecution, they were engaged in the construction of a house.

Friends note Kirill's subtle sense of humor. When possible, they spent their holidays with him and his wife in a village far from civilization: the women went to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries, and the men went fishing.

Due to the criminal prosecution, all members of the Khabrik family experienced stress. Colleagues, relatives, friends and neighbors wonder why this peaceful believer was considered an extremist.

Case History

At the end of February 2023, 7 searches were carried out in the cities of Kingisepp and Slantsy (Leningrad Region). The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under an extremist article against Kirill Khabrik, Igor Zhmyrev and other unidentified persons. Charges were also brought against Andrey Morozov, Sergey Ryabokon and Yevgeniy Poveshchenko. The latter was put under a preventive measure in the form of a written undertaking not to leave, and the rest were placed in a pre-trial detention center, where they spent from 9 to 11 months. At the end of March, searches were again carried out in Kingisepp. 11 other believers were interrogated. Five more people became defendants in the criminal case: Miroslav Sabodash, Igor Shevlyuga, Tatyana Stepanova, Aleksandr Vaganov and Konstantsiya Vovk. They were placed in a temporary detention facility, but soon everyone was released, except for Igor Shevlyuga, who spent a month in a pre-trial detention center. In May 2024, the case went to court.
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