Biography
In July 2018, security officials raided Sergey Polyakov and his wife Anastasiya with a search. Masked men beat the believer, and then he and Anastasiya were placed in solitary confinement for 5 months. The reason for this was the religion of the spouses. In November 2020, the court found Sergey guilty of extremism and sentenced him to 3 years in a penal colony. Anastasiya was sentenced to 2.5 years of suspended sentence.
Sergey was born in 1972 in the Murmansk region. From childhood he had an inquisitive mind. Sergey was fond of reading. After graduating from school, he received an engineering education as a radiophysicist-researcher, speaks English.
In the early 2000s, Sergei met Anastasiya, who became his reliable life companion. Together they traveled a lot. They have common hobbies: both are fluent in Serbian, Kazakh and Chinese, and can express themselves in sign language.
Numerous friends of the Polyakovs consider it outrageous that Sergey, a peaceful believer, was thrown into jail only because of his faith in Jehovah God.
Case history
In 2018, the Polyakovs were arrested in Omsk. During the arrest, Sergei was beaten and forced to wipe his blood off the floor. The couple spent five months in solitary confinement and three months under house arrest. In 2019, the Investigative Committee again searched the houses of believers, and Gaukhar Bektemirova and Dinara Dyusekeyeva became defendants in the case. The court considered the case for almost a year. Evidence of guilt was even sought in cartoons seized during the search. In November 2020, Sergey Polyakov was sentenced to three years in a penal colony, and three women were given suspended sentences: Anastasiya Polyakova—two and a half years; Gaukhar Bektemirova—two years and three months; Dinara Dyusekeyeva—two years. In May 2021, the appeal court upheld the verdict, and in June 2022, this verdict was upheld by the cassation court. In November 2022, Sergei Polyakov was released after serving his full term in a penal colony, and in January 2023, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation partially granted Polyakov’s appeal regarding the term of his sentence.
