Shayapov Viktor

Name: Shayapov Viktor Valeriyevich
Date of Birth: December 6, 1989
Current status: who has served the main sentence
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 275 day Under house arrest
Sentence: punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 2 years with restriction of liberty for a term of 8 months; The sentence of imprisonment shall be considered suspended with a probationary period of 3 years

Biography

Viktor Shayapov is another Jehovah's Witness from the Penza region, where believers are subjected to criminal prosecution.

Viktor was born in December 1989 in the village of Kamenka (Moscow region). His father is a driver and his mother is an accountant. Viktor had a brother who died due to medical error when he was only 21 years old.

As a child, Viktor was involved in weightlifting, football and boxing. After school he got the profession of an auto mechanic. He worked as a logistics manager.

His aversion to violence did not allow Viktor to learn how to fight, so he did alternative civilian service, working as a postal operator from 2011 to 2013.

When Viktor met his future wife, Yekaterina, she took a keen interest in the Bible and discussed it with Jehovah's Witnesses. Viktor was worried about the causes of suffering and death, so he joined Yekaterina in reading the Holy Scriptures. Logical and convincing answers from the Bible, as well as a lifestyle of believers that was consistent with what they teach, prompted Viktor and Yekaterina to embark on the Christian path on the same day in 2008. They got married in August 2010.

Viktor loves football and fishing, is fond of repairs and construction. His wife Yekaterina is a creative person, a fashion designer by profession. She loves to knit and work with leather, and is fond of photography.

The groundless criminal prosecution added a lot of concern to the Shayapov couple. Due to the worries and uncertainty, Viktor and Yekaterina began to have trouble sleeping. The spouses' relatives are worried about their future.

Case History

In the fall of 2020, a wave of searches took place in Nikolsk at the homes of local residents who profess the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses, including Viktor Shayapov. Almost a year later, an investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation separated his case into a separate proceeding from the Krupnov case. The believer was included in the list of Rosfinmonitoring, his accounts were blocked. In February 2022, the believer was detained in the Moscow region and taken to Penza, where he was placed in a temporary detention facility, later the court sent him under house arrest. Shayapov was accused of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. In March 2022, the case went to court, which 7 months later sentenced the believer to 2 years probation with a probation period of 8 months. The appeal upheld this decision.
Timeline
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