Sviridov Eduard

Name: Sviridov Eduard Vyacheslavovich
Date of Birth: June 10, 1964
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 1183 day in a pre-trial detention
Current restrictions: detention center
Sentence: 6 years 6 months with serving the sentence in a general regime correctional colony, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public religious organizations for 7 years, with restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year

Biography

In August 2021, a peaceful believer Eduard Sviridov was searched, detained and placed in a pre-trial detention center. The reason was the conversations about the Bible, which law enforcement agencies regard as organizing the activities of an extremist organization.

Eduard was born in June 1964 in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) in a simple family: his father worked as a truck driver, and his mother worked in a weaving factory. His father died early, and Eduard became the only support for his mother. From a young age, he loves to play sports. He also independently learned the basics of working with a computer, is well versed in computing.

After school, Eduard graduated from a vocational school and worked as a tractor driver. Then he served in the army in Afghanistan. In the early 1980s, he moved to Moscow.

In 1995, Eduard met Jehovah's Witnesses. What they were talking about interested him, since he had already read the Bible before. In February 1997, Eduard got married, and in November 1999, he and his wife embarked on the Christian path.

Case History

In August 2021, three Jehovah’s Witnesses, Eduard Sviridov, Sean Pike, and Aleksandr Rumyantsev, were arrested after searches in Moscow’s Tepliy Stan District. For practicing their religion, they were accused of organizing the activity of an extremist organization. The believers were placed in a pretrial detention center, where they spent 2 years and 4 months. In the first days of his imprisonment, Sean Pike, father of two and a RUDN University graduate from Guyana, was placed in an overcrowded cell and forced to sleep on the floor. In October 2021, Pike had COVID. The case went to court in November 2022. The charges were based on hidden audio recordings made in Sviridov’s home. After 13 months, the case ended with a guilty verdict. The court sent the believers to a penal colony: Aleksandr Rumyantsev for 7.5 years, Sean Pike for 7 years, and Eduard Sviridov for 6.5 years.
Timeline
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