[{"body":"The Blagoveshchensk City Court of the Amur Region denied Boris Andreyev parole.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Andreyev and Others in Yaroslavskiy","date":"2026-08-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yaroslavskiy/index.html#20260828","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["life-in-prison","parole","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksey Lelikov remains in the unit for people with disabilities. In May, he was able to move to a lower bunk, which was a significant relief. Cellmates and staff address the 66-year-old believer using the formal “Vy” and by his full name and patronymic.\nSometimes the believer plays chess with other inmates and, when possible, shares food with them.\nAt the end of March and beginning of April, Aleksey suffered three vascular crises, for which he underwent a course of treatment. At the same time, he suffered from a respiratory illness, some symptoms of which persisted for several months.\nLetters continue to arrive mainly electronically, while regular mail is received much less frequently. His daughter visited him during an extended visit.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lelikov in Krasnodar","date":"2026-07-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar/index.html#20260727","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["life-in-prison","prison-treatment","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"After 15 minutes in the deliberation room, the Rasskazovskiy District Court of the Tambov Region denied Anatoliy Marunov parole.\nAt the previous hearing, the judge asked Marunov why he was sentenced to a penal colony. \"I had no connection to any extremist organization; I was only a believer who practices the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses,\" Anatoliy explained.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-07-24T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20260724","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["parole","life-in-prison","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Armed bailiffs arrive for Larisa Tumanova to take her to the hearing. Seeing that she uses a wheelchair, they help load her into the vehicle, and friends drive the believer to court.\nBecause she is feeling unwell, she responds to the judge's questions only with a nod — even after being instructed to speak audibly for the record. Her lawyer reads her motion aloud.\nA religious expert speaks and provides the court with definitions of words from Tumanova's phone conversations — including expressions such as \"let's have some tea\" and \"let's take a walk.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Tumanova in Nizhniy Novgorod","date":"2026-07-22T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nizhniy-novgorod13/index.html#20260722","regions":["nizhegorod"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Rasskazovskiy District Court of the Tambov Region is reviewing a motion for parole for Anatoliy Marunov. The prosecutor is opposed to granting parole.\nThe penal colony has given the believer a negative character report, citing two verbal reprimands. The first has already been expunged, and the second was issued 2 days before the report was drawn up — for \"discrepancy between the itemized list of a food parcel and its actual contents.\" The representative of the penal colony is unable to explain either the substance of the violation or why the sanction was imposed directly before the document's completion.\nMeanwhile, in the descriptive part of the report, the penal colony notes that Anatoliy, despite being a person with a disability, conscientiously works to improve the grounds, is polite with the administration, and participates in educational and cultural activities.\nThe judge refuses to attach the UN Human Rights Committee's Views in a similar case.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-07-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20260715","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["life-in-prison","parole","shizo","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Anatoliy Marunov, 72, remains in custody. On July 2, 2026, the Rasskazovskiy District Court of the Tambov Region once again denied his release on health grounds. The closed hearing was held via videoconferencing and lasted only about 10-15 minutes.\nAnatoliy Marunov has been behind bars since July 2023. During this entire time, he has struggled with a number of serious chronic conditions: hypertension, heart failure, and prostatic hyperplasia. Even before his criminal prosecution, he suffered a cerebral infarction and had his gallbladder removed; in early 2025, he had a cystostomy.\nAccording to Alfiya, who visited her husband at the end of May 2026, they managed to secure the necessary examinations, treatment, and proper attention from the colony medical staff. However, nutrition at the colony remains inadequate, and Anatoliy continues to lose weight. In the first year of his imprisonment, he lost more than 20 kg. While behind bars, a medical commission registered him as a disabled person. \u0026quot;Anatoliy was registered disabled. He turned into a disabled person, after only 1 year in the colony!\u0026quot; said Alfiya.\nThe judge found Anatoliy\u0026#39;s condition acceptable for continued imprisonment in the colony. The administration of the correctional facility also saw no grounds for release, stating that \u0026quot;during his sentence in the penal colony, the purpose of the criminal sentence — namely, the rehabilitation of the offender — has not been achieved.\u0026quot; Meanwhile, the penal colony described Anatoliy as follows: \u0026quot;He is sociable and balanced. He gets along with others. He does not have conflicts with others. He is polite and tactful with the administration.\u0026quot;\nAnatoliy receives letters from different countries — sometimes dozens in a single day. Other inmates treat the believer with respect: many turn to him for advice and help, and some simply to talk. They affectionately call him dad and granddad, and do not use profane language in his presence.\nFor remaining faithful to his religious beliefs, Anatoliy is set to spend 2 more years in prison.\n","category":"prison","date":"2026-07-02T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/07/061527/image_hu_1b745facce1c28c4.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/07/061527/image_hu_5e769ee5bd1923a8.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/07/061527/image_hu_f814b04aba921709.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/07/061527/image_hu_99b311726f338ff1.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/07/061527.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["prison-treatment","disability"],"title":"Parole Denied: Seriously Ill Believer Will Not Be Released Early","type":"news"},{"body":"The commission in the penal colony did not support Anatoliy Marunov's motion for parole. In its opinion, he \"has not shown signs of rehabilitation\" because he has not renounced his faith.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-06-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20260611","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["life-in-prison","parole","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 9, 2026, Yevgeniy Zhukov, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses convicted for his faith, completed his sentence. His wife and friends traveled about 2,200 kilometers — from Sevastopol to Yaroslavl — to share the first minutes of his freedom with him.\n\u0026quot;I was always free,\u0026quot; Yevgeniy shared his initial thoughts after leaving the penal colony. \u0026quot;Only temporary restrictions prevented me from being with my family and friends and embracing them.\u0026quot;\nAlthough Yevgeniy developed friendly relations with other prisoners and the administration, his imprisonment was not without difficulties. \u0026quot;I was placed under strict detention conditions. There, you have to spend the whole day sitting, almost without moving. Before that, I worked in construction, then I trained as a baker and worked in the bakery for almost a year... My attitude toward work showed that I am a believer. Also, work helped me not to focus on negative feelings,\u0026quot; the believer said about his daily life behind bars.\nThe highlight of his time in custody was Yevgeniy\u0026#39;s wedding: in July 2024 he married Tatyana. Guests who had traveled thousands of kilometers attended the ceremony.\nYevgeniy leaves through the gates of the penal colony checkpoint. June 2026 Guard tower at the grounds of the penal colony. June 2026. Yevgeniy and Tatyana Zhukov. June 2026 A badge on Yevgeniy’s prison uniform with his details. June 2026 A touching reunion with friends. June 2026 The criminal case against Yevgeniy was initiated back in October 2020; that was when he was first arrested. The case materials listed such \u0026quot;crimes\u0026quot; as: \u0026quot;committing acts of mercy... distributing information in society on scientific, social, and historical topics.\u0026quot; All of this was interpreted as \u0026quot;organizing extremist activity.\u0026quot; In October 2022, the court sentenced him to 6 years\u0026#39; imprisonment. The believer spent almost 4.5 years behind bars.\nAccording to Yevgeniy, the numerous letters — that is what kept him from losing heart. \u0026quot;Thanks to the letters, I woke up every day with a smile; I looked forward to them. Especially letters from elderly people...\u0026quot; said Yevgeniy, struggling to hold back tears. \u0026quot;Those are the most touching letters. When they tell about their life, what they've been through, what they are doing now — it's worth a lot. I have three boxes of such letters — there are thousands of them. In three large notebooks, I have written out interesting thoughts from those letters. I want to keep them in my heart.\u0026quot;\nExpressing what he thinks about his experience, Yevgeniy said: \u0026quot;For me, it was more a test than a trial. Prison is like litmus paper; it showed me who I am inside and what I need to work on. A Bible principle says, \u0026#39;There is no fear in love.\u0026#39; In theory, prison is scary. Many prisoners of conscience are probably in far harsher conditions than I was. But I say sincerely: there is no need to be afraid. God will always hold your hand.\u0026quot;\nVladimir Sakada and Vladimir Maladyka, two other believers from Sevastopol, were convicted in the same case with Yevgeniy. Their release is expected in July 2026.\n","category":"sentence","date":"2026-06-09T00:00:00Z","duration":"0:26","image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/06/111346/image_hu_20fab74e0ac94700.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/06/111346/image_hu_6d58fa89fe57cdda.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/06/111346/image_hu_e99423fd4ac83615.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/06/111346/image_hu_f0dd87651bfdf25b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/06/111346.html","regions":["crimea","volgograd"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["release","disability","video"],"title":"\"I Was Always Free\" — Crimea Resident Yevgeniy Zhukov Has Served Punishment for His Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"\u0026quot;When the door opened and I saw my friends I was overjoyed. I realized I was free.\u0026quot; This is how Denis Peresunko, 48, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, described his initial feelings after his release. He was convicted under an article for extremism for reading the Bible with others. On June 9, 2026, his prison term came to an end.\nThe prosecution began back in the summer of 2019. Denis Peresunko, who is disabled, was detained and placed in a pretrial detention center for 5 months, where several of his fellow believers were already being held. The court proceedings were held during the height of the COVID pandemic which claimed the life of Denis' wife, Olga. In September 2021, Denis Peresunko was again behind bars, this time for years.\n\u0026quot;In prison there are people too — calm, good people you can talk to. The most important thing is to always rely on God, on his principles and advice,\u0026quot; Denis concluded. He served his sentence 1,200 kilometers from home in a penal colony in Udmurtia. The believer worked in the sewing workshop, making inflatable sleds. Denis often exceeded the set quota and twice received an award.\nDenis Peresunko is one of 84 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who have served prison terms for their beliefs. Another 115 believers remain in penal colonies.\n","category":"sentence","date":"2026-06-09T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/06/160925/image_hu_8218bae411e92b0e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/06/160925/image_hu_88c6fe9041c2c68e.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/06/160925/image_hu_2535897deabf6b37.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/06/160925/image_hu_41674f70e6642979.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/06/160925.html","regions":["volgograd"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","release"],"title":"Denis Peresunko from Volgograd Released from Penal Colony","type":"news"},{"body":"Yevgeniy Stefanidin is held in the general barracks. Now, due to his disability, he does lighter work in the laundry. After 5:00 p.m., he has free time and can relax, for example, by watching the fish in the aquarium. The believer has a Bible, which he received from the library.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2026-06-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20260604","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 3, 2026, the Vyselkovskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory pronounced the verdict against five local believers. Judge Aleksandr Kalchevskiy found them guilty of organizing the activity of an extremist organization and gave them suspended sentences: Ushakov and Bochko — 6.5 years, and Vechkayev, Shubnikov, and Kolesnikov — 6 years.\nVitaliy Ushakov, 45, is a car mechanic; Yevgeniy Bochko, 51, does not work because he suffers from multiple sclerosis and is classed as disabled; Valeriy Vechkayev, 52, is a father of three, a musician, and a decorator; Vladimir Kolesnikov, 80, is a retired military officer; and Aleksey Shubnikov, 43, is severely disabled and has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 16.\nThe criminal prosecution began in February 2022 with a series of searches: investigative actions affected at least 51 people; electronic devices, bank cards, and personal notes were seized from the believers. Ushakov was sent to a pretrial detention center for almost 7 months, then placed under house arrest and then under a ban on certain actions; Bochko, Vechkayev, Kolesnikov, and Shubnikov were also banned from a range of actions, including contacting witnesses in the criminal case and using communication services.\nVladimir Kolesnikov said: \u0026quot;We lived in Belarus for 4 years and then we were forced to return to Russia — my wife became seriously ill. She died in January 2020. Later I became seriously ill and ended up in hospital; I do not remember everything (stroke). A search took place 8 months later at my home... The husband of my wife\u0026#39;s daughter, Viktor Spirichev, and I were placed under investigation on the same day.\u0026quot;\nIn court, the defense repeatedly pointed out violations committed during the trial. For example, the experts analyzed materials other than those presented by the investigator. Aleksey\u0026#39;s lawyer noted another violation regarding the case materials: \u0026quot;Without the knowledge of the defense, 154 pages were added, 105 pages were altered, and 18 pages were permanently removed.\u0026quot;\nIn the Krasnodar Territory, so far 34 criminal cases have been initiated against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, and 18 believers have been sentenced to terms in prison.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2026-06-03T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/06/261208/image_hu_881697736264cc3e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/06/261208/image_hu_3c5e42bcfbb66962.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/06/261208/image_hu_93e6d04c77d140e3.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/06/261208/image_hu_ecf7aed90b5300e9.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/06/261208.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":"Among Them Are Believers with Disabilities and an 80-Year-Old","tags":["sentence","suspended","elderly","disability","282.2-1"],"title":"Court in Vyselki Finds Five Jehovah's Witnesses Guilty.","type":"news"},{"body":"Vladimir's health condition is deteriorating. He needs medical examination and consultations with a vascular surgeon, neurologist, gastroenterologist, and cardiologist.\nHe has lost weight: due to pain after eating, he cannot eat properly and is undernourished. Fomin can receive parcels only once every 2 months.\nThe believer continues to suffer from numbness in his limbs, severe headaches, high blood pressure, dizziness, and shortness of breath. He was previously diagnosed with epilepsy, which is accompanied by periodic seizures.\nVladimir complains of a daily cough and frequent acute respiratory infections (5 cases in the past 6 months). He is experiencing worsening hearing loss associated with a traumatic brain injury he suffered earlier. His dental condition remains a separate problem — his teeth are crumbling and several need to be extracted.\nDespite exhausting health challenges, Vladimir does not lose his inner resilience.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2026-05-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20260530","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"It becomes known that Aleksandr Gaitur was assigned a disability of group II. The diagnosis is multiple myeloma. After a number of courses of treatment in the hospital, his condition and well-being have stabilized, he is being treated at home. Once every three months, she undergoes an examination in a hospital in Kurgan to monitor her condition. The last survey was at the end of March this year.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Gaytur in Kurgan","date":"2026-05-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan3/index.html#20260526","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Amaliya Malchugova was 77 years old when, in October 2025, law enforcement officers broke into her home, smashing a window. This elderly, disabled woman was charged with extremism for remaining true to her beliefs as one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nAmaliya was born in February 1948 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Her parents faced repression based on their ethnicity and were exiled from the Volga German Republic in 1941. Her father spent 7 years in the uranium mines of the Urals under the labor army (a system of forced labor mobilization in the USSR used during World War II). Amaliya grew up in a large family of seven children, where she was the third child.\nFor many years, Amaliya worked as a nurse in physiotherapy. In 1999, she retired on a seniority pension.\nAmaliya learned about the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in 1991. Five years later, she was baptized.\nAmaliya was widowed in 2018. Her husband shared her religious beliefs. He was a director and, together with friends, often organised Bible dramas.\nAmaliya suffers from several serious illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Because her bank card was blocked, she was left without means of subsistence for almost 2 months. Neighbors are worried about the believer.\n","date":"2026-07-16","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/malchugova/photo_hu_e1a77a01cd012c4c.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/malchugova/photo_hu_efb2b207d1c16df8.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/malchugova/photo_hu_ed83d34e04412630.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/malchugova/photo_hu_808270011bb88658.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/malchugova.html","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["elderly","disability"],"title":"Amaliya Malchugova","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Closing arguments continue. Yevgeniy Bochko's lawyer reminds the court that his client is a person with a disability and suffers from a severe autoimmune disease. In prison conditions, he will be deprived of the necessary treatment, which will inevitably lead to paralysis, blindness, and a slow death. \"Sending him to a penal colony is a cruel and inhuman decision,\" the defense states.\nUshakov's defense notes that the evidence in the case is fabricated and contains serious violations. In particular, the defendants could not have continued the activity of a legal entity, because it never existed in the Vyselkovskiy District. The believers exercised their constitutional right to practice their faith, which is not banned. The lawyer cites portions of recordings of meetings for worship, which discuss love for one's neighbor, refusal to participate in cruel games and violence, peacefulness, the effort to overcome evil with good, and respect for government authorities. \"Which of these statements did you assess at 6.5 years in prison?\" the lawyer asks the prosecutor.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2026-05-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20260521","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["defense-arguments","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court rejects Anatoliy Marunov's motion for release due to illness. However, the believer notes that the doctors have become more attentive: he is regularly taken out of the penal colony for consultations with specialists, his blood is tested and an MRI was recently done. Also, after his disability was officially recognized, he receives more nutritious food and he can shower more often.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20260506","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["life-in-prison","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The head of medical unit No. 68, Olga Vinogradova, is being questioned. It turns out that the court returned Marunov's medical record to the medical facility, which significantly complicates the verification of her testimony. The defense lawyer is trying to find out why the believer has not yet undergone the necessary examination in order to rule out cancer.\nVinogradova answers questions evasively: \"we thought so\", \"it was enough\", \"there were no grounds\".\nThe lawyer insists that the latest data from Marunov's tests be presented. The court adjourns the hearing.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-05-01T15:13:38+03:00","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20260501","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["life-in-prison","interrogation","elderly","disability","health-risk","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Fifth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Pyatigorsk upholds the verdict against Fomin — the believer remains in the penal colony.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2026-04-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20260409","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["cassation","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Every day, Boris Andreev takes medication that his wife delivers. He needs to consult an oncologist. In March, Boris passed his sewing exam. Prisoners treat him with respect, also because of his age — he is one of the oldest in the penal colony.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Andreyev and Others in Yaroslavskiy","date":"2026-03-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yaroslavskiy/index.html#20260330","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Sergey Malyutin was born in the village of Zuevka near Chelyabinsk in a large family — his parents also had four daughters. His father worked as a shepherd and herder, his mother worked in livestock farming for more than 40 years. Sergey\u0026#39;s parents and two sisters are no longer alive.\nSergey\u0026#39;s childhood was spent outdoors — together with other children he played gorodki and lapta, organized bicycle and horse races, picked mushrooms and berries. From a young age, he helped his parents with chores: he prepared firewood and grazed calves.\nWhile still at school, Sergey qualified as a tractor driver, so after leaving he immediately got a job as a combine operator. Later, he switched to a bulldozer, and eventually became a foreman in livestock farming. Sergey also gained other professions: installing external pipelines and plumbing. Being granted indefinite disability status in 2019, he retired, but retained his hardworking attitude.\nFrom his youth, Sergey thought about how quickly life passes. \u0026quot;The time will come and I will be gone but others will go on living. I couldn\u0026#39;t wrap my head around it,\u0026quot; he recalls. The Bible hope of the resurrection helped him to look to the future without fear. In 1990, he was baptized as one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses together with his wife Svetlana and mother-in-law.\nThe couple have been married since 1986. Svetlana worked as a coil winder at a factory and later as a milkmaid. Sergey likes gardening in his free time and enjoys picking mushrooms and berries in the forest with his wife. He also repairs household appliances in his spare time.\nSergey and Svetlana raised three sons and two daughters. Like the parents, their sons like to work with their hands and relax outdoors. Their daughters have loved animals since childhood and also like reading and embroidering. The family moved to Chelyabinsk so that the children could continue their education after school.\nAfter the search in 2022, Sergey\u0026#39;s health began to deteriorate, and his family is worried about him.\n","date":"2026-04-21","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/malyutin/photo_hu_ff9031e4bafffdce.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/malyutin/photo_hu_534b9c4f2a5b5dd2.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/malyutin/photo_hu_6823339fa615de96.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/malyutin/photo_hu_51259eb31692066b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/malyutin.html","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["elderly","disability"],"title":"Sergey Malyutin","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Major of Justice V. E. Baltachev, senior investigator of the third department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region, initiates a criminal case against Sergey Malyutin and takes him on a recognizance agreement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Malyutin in Chelyabinsk","date":"2026-03-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chelyabinsk13/index.html#20260305","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-1","recognizance-agreement","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"I have become stronger, and my trust and love for my best friend, our Creator and Maker, have been strengthened as never before,\" said Vladimir Gaydyshev, giving his final statement before the court.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gaydyshev in Shadrinsk","date":"2026-03-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk4/index.html#20260303","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["final-statement","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On March 3, 2026, the Shadrinskiy District Court fined Vladimir Gaydyshev, 53, with severely impaired sight, 300,000 rubles for participating in the activity of an extremist organization, but in fact for peacefully practicing his faith.\nVladimir cannot see in the dark and in dimly lit rooms; he cannot read normal font size even with his glasses. He said that after the start of the prosecution, his eyesight got even worse: \u0026quot;I can hardly do even ordinary household chores.\u0026quot; Moreover, he has several other health issues, including neurological. The believer needs regular treatment, but due to being under a recognizance agreement he could not receive sufficient medical care. Speaking in court before the verdict, he said: \u0026quot;The unjust prosecution... became a great stress for me and my elderly mother... For almost 5 years I haven\u0026#39;t had any peace.\u0026quot;\nIn 2021, Vladimir Gaydyshev\u0026#39;s home was searched. Another search took place at his mother\u0026#39;s home, who was 80 at the time. In April 2025, the investigation charged Vladimir with extremism, which, according to law enforcement officers, consisted of participating in religious meetings. Later in court, the believer stated that it was impossible to find calls to hatred in his words and explained it this way: \u0026quot;My beliefs are based on the Bible, and it teaches me to love all people, even those who are hostile.\u0026quot;\nVladimir's many friends have not abandonded him: they help with household chores, caring for his mother, who also has a disability, and support him emotionally too. The believer also tries to stay positive. He says: \u0026quot;I've been actively working on my emotional and physical health to withstand this test with dignity. Thanks to this, I feel better.\u0026quot;\nIn the Kurgan Region, 10 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have already faced criminal prosecution for their faith. Five of them received heavy fines, among them Aleksandr Lubin, a severely disabled person, who died shortly after the verdict was passed.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2026-03-03T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/03/041408/image_hu_b4497839bcbffe85.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/03/041408/image_hu_9a6d3656e9bd6950.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/03/041408/image_hu_da0305467f52f857.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/03/041408/image_hu_7a25c9d55bc69074.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/03/041408.html","regions":["kurgan"],"subtitle":"Court Imposed Fine","tags":["first-instance","282.2-2","disability","fine"],"title":"Almost Blind Man in Shadrinsk Convicted \"for Extremism\".","type":"news"},{"body":"Anatoly is accommodated in a barracks designed for 40 people. The room is warm, plastic windows are installed, but there is no hot water. A special place is reserved for smokers.\nAnatoliy has friendly relations with his cellmates and representatives of the administration. The 72-year-old believer is treated with respect. In his presence, convicts try not to use obscene language; If this happens, they immediately apologize. \"Uncle Tolya has come, stop swearing,\" the attendants in the dining room warn.\nIn two years, Marunov received more than 5,000 letters from different countries. He has a Bible.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-03-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20260302","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["life-in-prison","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In February, Boris had an extended visit from his wife Aleksandra. He is encouraged by talking about the future — what he and his wife will do, how they will travel. This gives him \"a feeling of freedom and joy.\"\nSince November 2025 the believer did not receive any correspondence, but recently he was given 50 letters at once. Since mid-January, Andreyev has been learning how to sew and in March he plans to take exams.\nFrom time to time, Boris suffers from low blood pressure, especially in the morning, as well as other illnesses. Sometimes he feels weak and tired. In March, the believer must undergo an examination and receive appropriate treatment.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Andreyev and Others in Yaroslavskiy","date":"2026-02-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yaroslavskiy/index.html#20260225","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["life-in-prison","prison-treatment","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The barracks in which Aleksey Lelikov is kept are divided into two parts for about 35 people. The kind attitude of the believer to others creates a peaceful atmosphere in the detachment. Neighbors treat the man with respect, call him \"Uncle Lyosha\".\nLelikov reads the Bible in the Synodal translation. It is difficult for him to answer letters because of the noise and the lack of a desk.\nIf necessary, the believer can receive medication from a doctor. Aleksey needs dental care - tooth extraction and further prosthetics, which began in the pre-trial detention center.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lelikov in Krasnodar","date":"2026-02-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar/index.html#20260220","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["life-in-prison","prison-treatment","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksandr Vakarev is a surgeon from Uyar with more than 26 years of experience. Local residents know and respect him. Due to the search and the criminal case against the head of the family and his younger son, Zakhar, the usual life of the Vakarevs stopped.\nAleksandr was born in 1968 in Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory. He has a younger brother. Their father worked as an electrician, and their mother was a cook. She is retired; their father is no longer alive.\nAs a child and teenager, Aleksandr enjoyed fishing, soccer, and ice hockey. After finishing school, he attended medical college and then entered medical university. He worked in his field — as a surgeon and endoscopist, and most recently, as a surgeon in an outpatient clinic.\nIn 1997, Aleksandr married Olga, who is also a medical professional. Shortly after the wedding, their son was born. In 2000, the family moved from Krasnoyarsk to Uyar, where their younger son, Zakhar, was born. Aleksandr enjoys cooking and reading; he also has a small collection of antique wall clocks. Olga likes to sing, dance, and write poems. As a family, the Vakarevs enjoy listening to music, watching movies and cartoons, and spending time outdoors.\nIn 2005, Olga was the first in the family to become one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses; a year later, Aleksandr also was baptized. He was impressed by the reliability of Bible prophecies and the wisdom of its advice. \u0026quot;It saved our marriage,\u0026quot; the believer recalls. \u0026quot;I stopped smoking, swearing, and getting drunk. My wife and I are always and everywhere together.\u0026quot; Studying the Bible helped the couple raise their children decently. Aleksandr said: \u0026quot;Teachers at school said they had never had parents who cared so much about educating and ensuring the well-being of their children. The children grew up obedient and received several letters of commendation.\u0026quot;\nAleksandr has recurring cancer and is registered as disabled. Due to the criminal prosecution, it is difficult for him to receive treatment in Krasnoyarsk. He also cannot visit his elderly mother in another city. The prosecution of her husband and son has further worsened Olga\u0026#39;s already fragile health. However, the difficulties have not broken the family — the Vakarevs are certain that they have committed no crime.\n","date":"2026-06-18","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/vakarev/photo_hu_f48322a47abac9fe.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/vakarev/photo_hu_fa8c6f2e50eb8d6a.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/vakarev/photo_hu_15ec375686c46459.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/vakarev/photo_hu_5734a831d05db198.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/vakarev.html","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["disability","families"],"title":"Aleksandr Vakarev","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"On February 13, 2026, in Nizhny Novgorod, law enforcement officers conducted searches at the homes of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses and interrogated four women. One of them is unable to walk on her own, and her daughter had to take her to the Investigative Committee in a wheelchair. During the interrogation, the elderly woman learned that she had been under surveillance since 2023.\nThe investigative actions were carried out as part of a criminal case initiated on February 9, 2026, against Lidiya Starostina, a 70‑year‑old believer. During the searches, electronic devices were seized, and in one instance even a Wi‑Fi router. The women were interrogated at the Investigative Committee office and then released.\nIn the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 25 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have already faced criminal prosecution, including 4 married couples.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2026-02-13T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"svg":"/img/news/police.svg"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/02/231423.html","regions":["nizhegorod"],"subtitle":"Criminal Case Initiated","tags":["search","interrogation","elderly","disability","surveillance"],"title":"Searches and Interrogations of Female Believers in Nizhny Novgorod.","type":"news"},{"body":"Senior Investigator of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Aleksandr Busarov, initiated the criminal prosecution of a wheelchair user — 86-year-old Larisa Tumanova. The reason for initiating the case for participating in the activity of an extremist organization was her telephone conversations, which have been monitored since 2023.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Tumanova in Nizhniy Novgorod","date":"2026-02-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/nizhniy-novgorod13/index.html#20260209","regions":["nizhegorod"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-2","surveillance","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Nikolai Prokhorov refuses a lawyer and declares: \"I am on trial for my faith. No one knows my beliefs better than me.\" The judge considers the participation of a defense lawyer to be mandatory as Prokhorov is severely disabled.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Prokhorov in Kirsanov","date":"2026-01-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kirsanov2/index.html#20260127","regions":["tambov"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksey Lelikov is in penal colony No. 12 in the Volgograd Region (Volzhskiy). He was assigned to a unit in which pensioners and disabled people serve their sentences. The believer's sleeping place is on the second tier. He can regularly talk to his loved ones via video call through the Zonatelecom system.\nBefore being transferred to the penal colony, Aleksey fell ill and still has a cough. Because of this he did not need to go to the lineup for 2 weeks.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lelikov in Krasnodar","date":"2026-01-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar/index.html#20260123","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["life-in-prison","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Rasskazovskiy District Court of the Tambov Region is considering Anatoliy Marunov's motion for release from punishment for health reasons. Medical unit No. 68 submitted a conclusion that he did not have any illness that gives him the right to be released. However, the court did not receive the documents on which this conclusion was based. The hearing was postponed as the medical institution is obliged to provide the missing materials.\nDue to the believer recently being classified as severely disabled, they have started giving him additional food — milk, butter and boiled beef. He is pleased with such changes.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2026-01-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20260116","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["life-in-prison","elderly","disability","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\u0026quot;They imprison less, but more severely\u0026quot; — that was the headline of a similar review a year ago, when statistics gave hope that the repression against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia if not subsiding, was at least losing intensity. A year later, it is clear that this is not the case. In 2025, the number of raids, new criminal defendants, and incidents of unprovoked violence against believers has increased. In more than 8 years of persecution, the total prison terms handed down have exceeded 1,000 years. This article looks at the human stories which are masked by the dry reports of \u0026quot;crusaders against extremism\u0026quot; — extremism that has never been proven — and at what Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia have faced during the past year.\nMillennium of Incarceration Aleksey Lelikov has devoted nearly his entire life to music. For many years, he taught piano and, in 1994, even reached the finals of the \u0026quot;Teacher of the Year\u0026quot; competition in Krasnodar. Around the same time, Aleksey became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. He had never had any trouble with the law. Yet in February 2025, on indiscriminate charges of extremism, a court sentenced the disabled 64-year-old believer to 6.5 years imprisonment.\nAleksey is just one among 906 individuals whose lives have been irrevocably changed by prosecution for their faith. During 8.5 years of persecution, more than 500 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — men and women — have served time behind bars, and 179 remain imprisoned to this day. Verdicts have been issued against 665 believers. Of these, 215 people (32%) received prison sentences — 146 of them (68%) were sentenced to 5 years or more. The combined length of prison terms totals 1,128 years.\nIn 2025, 107 searches (5 more than the previous year) were conducted, bringing the total to 2,268 — on average 1 search every 30 hours. The number of new defendants also rose compared to 2024: 61 as opposed to 53. During the past year, 125 believers were convicted. Of these 38 were sentenced to prison, with the overwhelming majority — 30 (nearly 80%) — receiving more than 5 years. The harshest sentence that year — 7 years in a penal colony — was handed down to four believers: Yevgeniy Sokolov from Voronezh, Samvel Babayan from Samara, Ivan Neverov from Saransk, and Igor Lonchakov from Vladivostok. Yevgeniy and Samvel suffer from serious illnesses and Igor is disabled.\nSuspended sentences were given to 49 people (39%), and 37 were fined amounts ranging from 250,000 to 650,000 rubles.\nLast year 16 believers completed their prison terms and were released. Among them was Aleksandr Seredkin, 71. He was freed only after it was discovered he has advanced cancer. \u0026quot;I\u0026#39;m still young,\u0026quot; he joked, adding: \u0026quot;I want to recover and finish the Christian race to the end.\u0026quot;\nTorture, Violence, and Real Victims Search and arrest. Illustrative photo. In 2025, there were at least eight cases of unprovoked violence and cruel treatment against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — including incidents that meet the definition of torture under the UN Convention.\nDuring more than 8 years of persecution, already over 70 believers have suffered such abuse. None of these crimes have been properly investigated, and none of the perpetrators have faced the punishment prescribed by law.\nDuring the year, three elderly believers who were criminally prosecuted passed away: Liliya Dolinina, Lyudmila Shut, and Valeriy Baylo. Valeriy died in the actual detention center, never having received the medical care he needed. In total, the number of deaths in connection wtih the criminal prosecution has reached 16.\n\u0026quot;I Wish You Many Happy Years in Your Loving Family Home...\u0026quot; Disabled Anatoliy Yevtushenko says goodbye to his family after being sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony. Krasnodar, December 2025. At least 81 prosecuted individuals have documented serious health conditions, 34 are officially disabled. Today, 36 seriously ill believers are held in penal colonies and pretrial detention centers, where access to proper medical care is often impossible.\nThe disability of Boris Andreyev, 74, was recognized when he was already in the penal colony. The court sentenced him to 6 years, fully aware of his serious illness — already during the preliminary investigation a precancerous condition requiring regular medical monitoring was identified. Boris was unable to obtain a full medical examination for more than a year in detention and his condition worsened. Only in 2025 did a medical commission confirm the diagnosis — cancer. Boris underwent a course of treatment.\nCongratulatory Certificate from the Mayor of Moscow to the Marunov family on their anniversary Anatoliy Marunov, 72, is serving a 6.5-year sentence in a penal colony. Even before his imprisonment, he had suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with heart failure, hypertension, and a prostate tumor. When his wife visited him in the penal colony in the Tambov Region and saw his condition, she was alarmed. \u0026quot;I was terrified,\u0026quot; Alfia said. \u0026quot;He was covered in tubes, catheters, bags... It\u0026#39;s no longer a person, but a living corpse...\u0026quot; In January 2025, Anatoliy needed surgery, but it could not be performed in that region. The court refused to reduce his sentence despite doctors\u0026#39; conclusions that his life was at risk. In October, he was hospitalized, and in December, a medical commission confirmed his disability. Meanwhile, the court of cassation upheld the verdict, refusing to attach documents about his condition to the case. Today, Anatoliy receives only limited medical care. In bitter irony, Moscow City Hall recently sent the separated Marunov family a congratulatory letter on their 50th wedding anniversary. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin praised the elderly couple as an example for young people and wished them \u0026quot;many happy years in their loving family home.\u0026quot;\nAlmost one-third of those prosecuted for their faith (266 people) are over 60. The same proportion applies to new defendants in 2025 (19 out of 60). Currently, 37 elderly believers remain behind bars. Samvel Babayan, 53, from Samara was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. At the time of his arrest, he was preparing for major surgery, but treatment was canceled. Soon after, his chronical illnesses of his internal organs, including a tumor, worsened. He suffers constant spinal pain, has lost 15 kilograms and hearing in one ear. For more than a year, Samvel remained in pretrial detention without proper medical care. He now awaits transfer to a penal colony, where adequate treatment is impossible. Severe pain plagued him even during court hearings. The defense requested fewer sessions, but the court refused. At one hearing, Samvel lost consciousness and an ambulance was called — yet the trial was not postponed.\nSecret \u0026quot;Pastor\u0026quot; Across the country, law enforcement agencies spy on believers, including using agents who feign an interest in the Bible. For months — sometimes years — they secretly record conversations and later testify in court as anonymous witnesses.\nAt least 30 criminal cases have been built on false testimony from such informants. One agent, Yekaterina Petrova, spied on a group of 17 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, including elderly people. Her testimony led to prison sentences of up to 8 years. Another example: nearly all criminal cases in the village of Vyselki, Krasnodar Territory, were fabricated through the efforts of an agent known in court under the pseudonym \u0026quot;Pastor\u0026quot;.\nThe cases of Viktor Spirichev (left) and Sergey Dvurechenskiy (right) are based on testimony from \u0026quot;Pastor.\u0026quot; Both were sentenced on the same day: 2 years suspended. Vyselki, December 2025. All that the testimony of these spies managed to prove was that the believers discussed the Bible and prayed to Jehovah. During hearings, often the agents end up giving testimony in favor of the defense during hearings. \u0026quot;I, for example, never heard the defendant say that other religions are bad,\u0026quot; Pastor admitted at Spirichev\u0026#39;s trial, where Viktor was later given a suspended sentence. Sergey Dvurechenskiy said about this witness: \u0026quot;He\u0026#39;s doing this for some reason — resentment or something else. That\u0026#39;s his business. It's not for me to judge... There\u0026#39;s still some hope that he\u0026#39;ll come to his senses.\u0026quot;\n\u0026quot;The KGB used exactly the same tactics during the Soviet-era ban on Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. It\u0026#39;s all in the archives and repeatedly documented by historians,\u0026quot; says Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. \u0026quot;What did these spies uncover? The same as now: Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are not enemies of society or the state. In 1991, a law was passed to rehabilitate victims of repression, and in 1996, a presidential decree explicitly instructed the Prosecutor General\u0026#39;s Office, FSB, and Interior Ministry to ensure rehabilitation of citizens harmed by terror. Today\u0026#39;s authorities cannot claim ignorance of this.\u0026quot;\nGold Mine Yevgeniy and Tatyana Dodolin. They have been in pretrial detention since spring 2025. \u0026quot;It seems that for law enforcement agnecies, the tactic of targeting entire families has become a gold mine: why go after real criminals? That\u0026#39;s dangerous. It\u0026#39;s much easier to go after the relatives of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who are already under investigation. Most believers have strong family ties, so chances are — husband, wife, son, daughter — they also read and discuss the Bible. It really looks like that\u0026#39;s exactly what investigators are doing,\u0026quot; commented one lawyer who has helped defend the rights of believers in numerous criminal cases.\nIn 2025, criminal cases were initiated against four married couples: Nikolay and Larisa Kosov from Cherkessk (under travel restrictions), as well as Tomsk residents Yevgeniy and Tatyana Dodolin, Yevgeniy and Yana Abramov, Aysulu Tastaybekova and Vladimir Pushkov (all currently in pretrial detention). The numbers of believers prosecuted after their family members grew to include Yelena Shestopalova (mother of Vladlena Kukavitsa) and Mariya Pankova (wife of Sergey Tolokonnikov).\nAt least 172 Jehovah's Witnesses who have been prosecuted have one or more relatives who faced similar circumstances. Moscow resident Sergey Tolokonnikov hugs his wife after his release. The court found her guilty for her faith 5 months later. June 2025. \u0026quot;I was getting ready to attend the trial of my daughter Vladlena,\u0026quot; Yelena Shestopalova recalled the events in October. \u0026quot;An early ring at the door surprised me: \u0026#39;Could it really be a search on the very day of the trial?\u0026#39; I had already gone through one search. I understood they could come again and initiate a case — it was only a matter of time.\u0026quot; She added: \u0026quot;My life has changed a lot, but I never lost my joy and always believed that Jehovah would not abandon me during my troubles.\u0026quot;\nCases in an Endless Cycle Trials against many Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have become an endless cycle: cases are sent back to the prosecutor\u0026#39;s office, then the trial starts over; appeals overturn decisions, judges recuse themselves, the wait for a verdict drags on for years. This has happened in at least 33 criminal cases.\nAnother extreme: after securing a conviction, law enforcement agencies initiate yet another criminal case against the same believer. Some become defendants again while serving suspended sentences (such as Aleksandr Serebryakov or Oleg Postnikov). Others face new charges while already in a penal colony.\nDmitriy Terebilov at one of the hearings. January 2022. A telling example is Dmitriy Terebilov: he was prosecuted for answering a cellmate\u0026#39;s questions about faith. In addition to the 3 years he had already served in a penal colony, the prosecutor requested another 10. \u0026quot;What\u0026#39;s criminal about sharing your thoughts about God, discussing a passage from the Bible, or some scientific or historical fact?\u0026quot; he expressed his bewilderment during one of the hearings.\nCurrently, the maximum prison term handed down to one of Jehovah's Witnesses is 8 years — there are six such prisoners of conscience today. In reality, unjust punishment doesn\u0026#39;t end even after release from a penal colony — believers continue to face additional restrictions. As a result, the actual duration of repression can exceed 20 years. For example, the prosecution of Dmitriy Barmakin began in July 2018. After lengthy investigations and numerous court hearings, he was sent to a penal colony, from which he should be released in November 2029. After that, he will be under restriction of freedom for another year, followed by 10 years of administrative oversight. In total, if nothing changes, the persecution of Dmitriy and his family will stretch to 22 years.\nLife on Hold Losing their freedom is not the only hardship faced by Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who are being persecuted. The state employs numerous methods to infringe upon their rights. For example, before a verdict is reached, defendants are almost always subjected to some form of preventive measure: they are often forbidden to leave their homes (even briefly) without official permission, to use communication devices, and sometimes even to speak with family members.\nRead more about repressive measures in criminal prosecution in the article: What Restrictions Are Faced by Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia? Suspended sentences are the most common form of punishment for Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — since 2017, 331 believers have been given such sentences. This type of verdict always includes a probation period ranging from 6 months to 5 years, during which the individual must \u0026quot;prove his correction\u0026quot; by exemplary behavior. If law enforcement agencies deem that the believer has committed any serious violations, the court can easily replace the suspended sentence with actual imprisonment.\nAleksey and Yuliya Pasynkov Such restrictions inevitably affect the families of those being prosecuted. Aleksey and Yuliya Pasynkov were both given suspended sentences in 2025. They are raising a son with a severe disability. \u0026quot;Even before the prosecution began, we had planned trips to doctors in Moscow and St. Petersburg — all of this has now been delayed for several years. Now we are limited as to how we can move forward with his treatment,\u0026quot; Aleksey said before his wife\u0026#39;s verdict was announced.\nBoth parents have been added to the so-called list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring. At various times, this list has included the names of 741 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, and 570 remain on it today. For those on the list, even simple everyday tasks become significantly harder. People in poor health and the elderly are especially vulnerable — they may face difficulties paying for medical services or receiving social assistance.\n\u0026quot;To collect my salary, I have to go to the bank twice a month. Sometimes I have to endure humiliation, explaining to the staff that I\u0026#39;m not an extremist,\u0026quot; explained Maksim Beltikov, a father of three. He served 2 years in a penal colony but still feels the consequences of the unjust prosecution.\n\u0026quot;They Will Deport Him — What About His Family?\u0026quot; A new trend that has been gaining momentum over the past year is revoking the citizenship of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses under prosecution. The procedure is simple: if a convicted believer\u0026#39;s citizenship had been acquired, it is simply annulled shortly after the verdict takes effect. At least 12 people have faced this situation.\nWhat does this mean in practice for believers and their families? Some again risk religious discrimination now in their country of birth; others face indefinite separation from loved ones; some may even become stateless due to bureaucratic hurdles.\nRustam Diarov is one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses whose citizenship was revoked. Upon his release he faces deportation, to where — still unknown. Rustam\u0026#39;s wife and elderly mother are Russian citizens. His wife is disabled and depends on state-provided medication.\nMikhail Moysh with his wife and oldest son. A similar decision was made regarding Mikhail Moysh\u0026#39;s citizenship. He has been in custody since October 2021. Mikhail has two children; the younger was only a few months old when he was arrested. Since then, he has barely seen his sons. A deportation order could prolong this separation even further. Here\u0026#39;s how Moysh\u0026#39;s lawyer described the social dilemma:\n\u0026quot;One of his children was born here in Russia. And now, they will deport Moysh... What about his family? Do they have to leave too? And to where, if one child has almost finished school here and the other is still very young and an RF citizen by birth...\u0026quot;\n\u0026quot;These are just a few examples of the human drama hidden behind dry numbers,\u0026quot; says Yaroslav Sivulskiy. \u0026quot;History and today\u0026#39;s persecution prove only one thing: Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are being targeted without cause. But repression has not crushed their faith. So, we can be sure that, as the Bible says, \u0026#39;it will turn out well for those who fear the true God.\u0026#39;\u0026quot;\nNikolay Saparov, who was tortured during his arrest in spring 2022, has been behind bars for nearly 4 years. March 2025. Anatoliy Yevtushenko watches his friends and family as bailiffs lead him away in handcuffs from the courtroom. December 2025. Oksana Chausova, with tears of joy, shared her first moments of freedom with friends. September 2025. Dance of a free man. Artur Putintsev. April 2025. ","category":"analytics","date":"2026-01-08T08:21:40+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_4bf0f98c2051e909.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_99493c21d2de81cf.jpg","webp":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_fd04654bdfaa2c3d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2026/01/071621/image_hu_21372a74e581e94e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2026/01/071621.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["analytics","search","torture","elderly","disability","prison-treatment","life-in-prison","minors","families","secret-witness","strict-conditions","health-risk","died","citizenship-deprivation"],"title":"A Thousand Years for Their Faith: Repression Against Jehovah’s Witnesses — 2025 Review","type":"news"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to appoint Yevtushenko three years in a general regime colony. The court appoints two.\nBefore that, Anatoly Yevtushenko makes his final statement and notes: \"Prison walls are not an obstacle for the spirit of God, with which he supports those who are faithful to him.\"\nMore than 70 people come to court to support the defendant. After the verdict was announced, he was taken into custody and taken away in handcuffs.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yevtushenko in Krasnodar","date":"2025-12-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar3/index.html#20251223","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["punishment-request","sentence","282.2-2","liberty-deprivation","defense-arguments","final-statement","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On December 23, 2025, the Sovetskiy District Court of Krasnodar convicted Anatoliy Yevtushenko, 54. Although disabled and having recently undergone hip replacement surgery, he will serve his sentence in a penal colony. He was taken into custody in the courtroom.\nAnatoliy was prosecuted following his friend Aleksey Lelikov. In January 2022, their homes were searched. In July 2024, the FSB charged Yevtushenko with extremism. Due to the recognizance agreement, the believer could not go to St. Petersburg for the surgery, which he really needed, because he experienced constant pain due to bilateral coxarthrosis. He was able to receive the necessary treatment only in February 2025, when court hearings had already began. Anatoliy is grateful for the material support of his friends and fellow believers, as he has not been able to work lately. \u0026quot;If it were not for the help of my brothers and sisters, there would have been no operation,\u0026quot; he recalls. \u0026quot;Thanks to them for such love and care. It\u0026#39;s so touching that I can\u0026#39;t hold back my tears.\u0026quot;\nAnatoliy Yevtushenko speaks before the court. December 2025 Those attending, including Anatoliy\u0026#39;s relatives, anxiously listen to the words of the judge. December 2025 After the verdict was announced, Anatoliy says goodbye to his wife and daughter. December 2025 Anatoliy is handcuffed right in the courtroom. December 2025 The guard leads the believer away, but he does not feel broken by injustice. December 2025 In addition to court hearings and their own health problems, Anatoliy and his wife cared for his elderly mother until her death in November 2025. The 85-year-old needed constant care — she could not get out of bed, could not see and suffered from dementia. Shortly before Anatoliy\u0026#39;s surgery, his wife broke her leg. The believer was allowed to travel daily from Krasnodar to the village 100 kilometers away to take care of the women.\nDespite his own difficulties, Anatoliy sought to support his fellow believers, who also ended up in the dock for their faith. He attended court hearings in criminal cases in Krasnodar and Goryachy Klyuch, drove the defendants and their relatives there, and later went to the village of Vyselki to help believers there too. \u0026quot;If you invest love, you receive double the love. You reinvest that love again, you quadruple it. And on to infinity, because love has no limits,\u0026quot; the believer said.\nThe criminal prosecution of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia does not exclude even seriously ill people: at least 30 believers with disabilities have gone through and are still going through the exhausting stages of investigative measures and trials.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-12-23T00:00:00Z","duration":"0:35","image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/12/240944/image_hu_6960f9ff8431d42b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/12/240944/image_hu_3689444b79040a3c.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/12/240944/image_hu_15352f4e48e7499.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/12/240944/image_hu_61e04568fdc00ea7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/12/240944.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-2","liberty-deprivation","disability"],"title":"Krasnodar Court Sentenced Disabled Jehovah's Witness to 2 Years in Penal Colony","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 22, 2025, Aslanbech Trakhov, chairman of the Teuchezhskiy District Court, announced the verdict in a case against two peaceful believers charged with participating in the activity of an extremist organization — Aleksey Dmitriyev 4 years in a penal colony, and elderly Yuriy Sergeechev, who has a disability, a 4-year suspended sentence.\nThe case against Sergeechev and Dmitriyev was initiated at the end of April 2025. The men were immediately arrested and spent about 8 months in pretrial detention. Yuriy Sergeechev, 74, has a disability, has diabetes mellitus, has had two heart attacks and has frequent severe hypertensive crises. He walks with a cane. On the eve of one of the court hearings, Yuriy had another hypertensive crisis, and yet he was taken to court. A week later, the same thing happened. His lawyer said: \u0026quot;We informed the court that the defendant had high blood pressure at night — more than 200/115 — but the court did not care.\u0026quot;\nDespite his serious condition and advanced age, during the hearings Sergeechev was kept in a cage. Human rights activists consider this treatment as degrading and highlight, that he could have been under a more lenient preventive measure. Only the day before the verdict, Yuriy was released from the detention center under a recognizance agreement.\nShortly before the announcement of the verdict, Yuriy was released under a recognizance agreement. With his wife Antonina, they were photographed outside the courthouse. December 2025 The charge was based on audio recordings of conversations made by a man who feigned an interest in the Bible. According to the believers, he himself asked for advice on how to help his relatives and repeatedly asked them to discuss the Holy Scriptures with him. The defense noted that the case materials did not contain calls for violence or hostility, nevertheless the prosecutor requested 5 years in a penal colony for Yuriy Sergeechev, and 6 years for Aleksey Dmitriyev.\nIn his statement, Yuriy Sergeechev said, that the prosecution did not provide any real evidence of the crime and that none of the witnesses said anything negative about him. He asked the court: what exactly does the state consider illegal — prayer, discussion of the Scriptures or peaceful conversation?\nIn his final statement, Aleksey Dmitriyev asked the court to take into account that his 90-year-old mother needs care. He stressed that extremism is incompatible with his beliefs, since Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses do not participate in political struggle, do not take up arms and maintain peace.\nIn its decision of October 16, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights states that court decisions against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia, including the elderly, lack due humanity and are illegal. \u0026quot;Since the authorities failed to demonstrate that the applicants were involved in any socially dangerous activities of an extremist nature, their prosecution and conviction for peacefully practicing the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in community with others... did not pursue any legitimate aim or \u0026#39;pressing social need\u0026#39;,\u0026quot; the judgment reads (paragraph 11). Already 89 men and women over the age of 70 are being prosecuted for their faith in Jehovah God; 6 of them are behind bars.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-12-22T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/12/230915/image_hu_c1d7521e40fddb48.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/12/230915/image_hu_8e7faaed99ada15a.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/12/230915/image_hu_ebc64627239f7967.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/12/230915/image_hu_21bc210e33c12f58.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/12/230915.html","regions":["adygea"],"subtitle":"Aleksey Dmitriyev Sent to Penal Colony and Yuriy Sergeechev, 74, Given Suspended Sentence","tags":["sentence","282.2-1.1","liberty-deprivation","suspended","elderly","disability","health-risk"],"title":"Court in Adygea Convicted Two Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"The Syktyvkar City Court found the believers guilty of extremism and fined Lidiya Nekrasova — 300,000 rubles, Aleksandr Kruglyakov — 470,000 rubles, Aleksandr Ketov and Andrey Kharlamov — 500,000 rubles each. About 50 attended the announcement of the verdict on December 22, 2025.\n\u0026quot;I am proud that I suffered not as a villain, but as a Christian,\u0026quot; Aleksandr Kruglyakov, 46, expressed his opinion on what was happening. \u0026quot;In the 1990s, I was a villain, I was even tried. Many of my former friends are already dead.\u0026quot; He believes that studying the Bible with Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses helped him to change drastically: \u0026quot;I stopped abusing alcohol, taking drugs, quit smoking, stopped stealing and getting into fights... Such changes helped me stay alive.\u0026quot;\nAleksandr spent almost 2 months in the pretrial detention center. His bank account, like the accounts of the other defendants in the case, was blocked. Aleksandr lost his job and could not find a new one. His wife, who needed expensive medical treatment, was forced to provide for the family alone. Property was seized from the other believers.\nPensioner Aleksandr Ketov, 57, who spent 2 months under house arrest, described how he felt: \u0026quot;It's an unpleasant feeling — though you didn't violate anything, you're forced to sit at home waiting for a verdict that won't be fair.\u0026quot;\nIn his final statement, Andrey Kharlamov, 54, said: \u0026quot;I felt like a person without rights. They called me a criminal and an extremist, placed me under house arrest, threatened me, saying: \u0026quot;You will go to jail\u0026quot;, blocked my accounts, and seized my apartment. All motions that were filed were rejected by the investigator. I had always lived quietly, peacefully, didn't have any conflicts or quarrels with anyone, so it was the first time I had encountered such treatment just because I'm a believer.\u0026quot;\nIn January 2026, Lidiya Nekrasova will turn 73. During the prosecution, she experienced not only the hardships of the investigation and trial, but also a personal tragedy — her husband died last year. She said that caring people helped her cope with the difficulties. \u0026quot;Fellow believers, whom I didn't even know, called from different places. They brought me flowers, invited me over to their place, we ate treats and sang songs together,\u0026quot; she said.\n\u0026quot;In total, I received about 1500 letters from 42 countries,\u0026quot; says Aleksandr Kruglyakov in appreciation of the support. \u0026quot;It was a breath of fresh air, filled with love. Sometimes I received up to 125 letters a day.\u0026quot;\nSergey Ushakhin did not live to see the end of the trial. He had a disability due to a heart condition. The commission of the Ministry of Health recognized that the believer needed special treatment. Sergey died in August 2023 — a month after receiving the commission\u0026#39;s conclusion. Shortly before his death, the believer shared: \u0026quot;I received a very warm message from my friends. They write that they always remember me, how my voice comforted them in difficult times, and it encourages and warms them even now.\u0026quot;\nThe prosecution of the five Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses began with searches in 2021. A year later, the criminal case against them went to court, and the trial dragged on for almost 4 years. The believers do not agree with the decision of Judge Yevgeniy Sazhin. In total, 11 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have already been prosecuted in the Komi Republic.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-12-22T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/12/240905/image_hu_b20b1e8dd3cfa8c8.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/12/240905/image_hu_e23fff00e422cfbf.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/12/240905/image_hu_b13e2ed2a5c7845f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/12/240905/image_hu_91002bfcac77945c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/12/240905.html","regions":["komi"],"subtitle":"Woman, 72, and Three Men Must Pay from 300,000 to 500,000 Rubles","tags":["sentence","282.2-1","282.2-2","fine","elderly","disability"],"title":"Jehovah's Witnesses From Komi Fined for Their Faith.","type":"news"},{"body":"It becomes known that Anatoliy Marunov was assigned the II group of disability.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2025-12-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20251220","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","elderly","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksey Dmitriev and Yuriy Sergeechev deliver the final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-12-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20251218","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["final-statement","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"After the examination, the Main Bureau of Medical and Social Expertise for the Amur Region acknowledges Boris Andreev's disability.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Andreyev and Others in Yaroslavskiy","date":"2025-11-29T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yaroslavskiy/index.html#20251129","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["disability","elderly","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Astrakhan penal colony No. 8 has its own food, clothing, metal and woodworking production facilities. Therefore, most of the prisoners in Fomin's unit work. However, Vladimir was released from work due to persistent health issues. Frequent headaches, weakness, cramps and other health problems require medical attention.\nFomin's wife, Anna, was recently classed as disabled. As she had been separated from her husband for more than 1.5 years, she had to move to her father's in Chelyabinsk and live on both their pensions. The couple hope that at the end of December they will be granted an extended visit.\nVladimir maintains respectful relations with other prisoners and the penal colony administration. In his free time, he reads fiction.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2025-11-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20251128","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The panel of judges of the Second Court of Cassation, chaired by Igor Paukov, upholds the verdict of the lower court and the appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court against Anatoliy Marunov, Roman Mareyev and Sergey Tolokonnikov. The court refuses to attach medical documentation confirming Marunov's serious illness to the case.\nAs a judge of the Oryol Regional Court, Igor Paukov, 8 years ago, ruled to leave Dennis Christensen in custody.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mareyev and Others in Moscow","date":"2025-11-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/moscow4/index.html#20251127","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["cassation","disability","282.2-1.1","282.2-1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Yevgeniy Stefanidin returned to the penal colony after an examination in a hospital in Solikamsk, which the medical-labor commission required to confirm his disability. Nutritious food and rest have benefited him — despite his serious illness, the believer remains optimistic.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2025-11-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20251123","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["life-in-prison","prison-treatment","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Rogozin, Egozaryan and Peresunko regularly receive letters and parcels. All three have a Bible. They have the opportunity to call loved ones and shop in the store.\nValeriy and Igor work in the sewing workshop, and Denis is kept in a unit for the disabled and those who do not work. In August, he was sent to the hospital at penal colony no. 8 for Udmurtia due to problems with his spine.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Rogozin and Others in Volgograd","date":"2025-10-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volgograd/index.html#20251030","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The night before the hearing, Sergeechev falls ill due to a spike in his blood pressure. Information about his hypertensive crisis does not draw any reaction from the court.\nDuring the hearing, a video recording is being considered, in which Aleksey Dmitriyev and the witness for the prosecution discuss moral principles.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-10-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20251021","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","health-risk","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On the eve of the court hearing, Yuriy Sergeechev has a hypertensive crisis. This condition requires medical intervention and rest, but the next day the believer is taken to court.\nYuri's wife cannot support him, as she is forced to stay at home due to illness. The defendant's granddaughter and ten of his friends come to the hearing.\nThe court examines written materials, including the protocol of examining audio recordings. The defense explains that the materials depict a Bible study using permitted publications without signs of involving others in the activity of a banned organization or displaying extremism. Quotes from the materials confirm the peaceful dissemination of religious beliefs without imposing personal opinions.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-10-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20251013","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["health-risk","elderly","disability","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region upholds the sentence to Artamonov and Krushevsky. The decision comes into force.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Krushevskiy and Artamonov in Birobidzhan","date":"2025-10-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan21/index.html#20251002","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["appeal","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The penal colony supplied Andrey Vlasov with items stipulated by his individual rehabilitation program as a disabled person: two crutches with elbow support, orthopedic shoes and trousers, a recliner chair, as well as rope supports and handrails for the bed, which, unfortunately, cannot be attached. Special handrails have been installed in the bathroom, on account of his needs. The believer was given two wheelchairs — one for outdoor use and one for indoors. It is difficult for him to use the outdoor wheelchair, since Andrey cannot go outside on it on his own. The believer is grateful to the administration for the items provided.\nThe institution has a fairly large library. Vlasov reads the Synodal translation of the Bible and fiction literature. He receives more than 50 letters of support every month.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vlasov in Prokopyevsk","date":"2025-09-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopevsk/index.html#20250912","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","letters"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense filed a motion for Aleksey Dmitriev to see a traumatologist for his swollen knee. The court refuses, explaining that the medical unit of the pretrial detention center can provide assistance and, if necessary, send the accused to a state hospital.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-09-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20250910","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","sizo","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 5, 2025, the Kurgan City Court imposed a fine of 300,000 rubles on Irina Kamshilova. It took Judge Denis Cherkasov 3 months to find the believer guilty of extremism for her religious beliefs.\nIrina first faced prosecution in 2021, when her home was searched. During the prosecution, her already poor health deteriorated: she was diagnosed with leukemia and developed a heart disease. In May 2024, Irina\u0026#39;s house was searched again, and a criminal case was initiated against her. \u0026quot;My pension card was blocked, the house where I live was seized, technical devices were seized... But the most difficult thing for me was the isolation,\u0026quot; said Kamshilova, who was under a recognizance agreement until the verdict was passed.\nIrina does not agree with the court\u0026#39;s decision. \u0026quot;I am accused of extremism, intolerance, incitement to hatred, disrespect for the right to choose, imposing my point of view,\u0026quot; the believer said in her final statement. — You know, I was like that when I lived without God\u0026#39;s laws. But God... for about 30 years has been teaching me through the Bible to actually show love... I cannot agree with the charge!\u0026quot;\nIrina is grateful to her friends for their support and practical help: one baked bread for her, another helped repairing the roof, and so on. She likes to use her initiative. \u0026quot;I try to help others,\u0026quot; she says. \u0026quot;During the prosecution, I made new friends, and my relationships with old ones strengthened. The realization that difficulties are not forever helps me to endure everything. I treat them like an illness: yes, they are restrictive, but they are temporary.\u0026quot;\nIn the Kurgan Region, five more of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are awaiting sentences on similar charges.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-09-05T14:29:26+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/09/051429/image_hu_e2c7edf59fb10796.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/09/051429/image_hu_3c0d23576cedcca8.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/09/051429/image_hu_bcb2f7b5d1e8cc7.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/09/051429/image_hu_f13729ca24d3c78e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/09/051429.html","regions":["kurgan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","disability","fine","282.2-2"],"title":"In Kurgan Court Fines Woman, 57, with Disability, for Her Faith in Jehovah God","type":"news"},{"body":"On September 5, 2025, 63-year-old Vladimir Skachidub left the penal colony where he served time for peacefully practicing his faith. His wife and friends met him when he arrived at the railway station in Tikhoretsk, which is near his native village of Pavlovskaya.\nVladimir has been behind bars since October 2021. He served his sentence in a penal colony in the village of Stenkino, Ryazan Region, which is 1200 kilometers from his home. Skachidub applied for parole, but the court refused him, despite awards he received for conscientious work.\nEven before the prosecution, Vladimir\u0026#39;s health was poor — he has been registered disabled due to a neurological disease; he suffered a heart attack, after which he had to undergo surgery to have a stent inserted. Being imprisoned had a negative impact: Skachidub fell from the top bed several times while having epileptic seizures; an inflammation developed on his skin and ear, which needed medical treatment. The believer did not have any serious problems with receiving medical care.\nPenal colony No. 6 in the Ryazan Region, where the believer served his sentence Friends meet Vladimir at the penal colony exit The believer goes home after his release Vladimir Skachidub after his return from the penal colony Vladimir worked in the sewing workshop — this work brought him joy. A source of support, according to him, were letters from caring people and prayers from friends. Furthermore, even in prison, Vladimir found an opportunity to continue with his hobby — chess: he played with a man from the UK, sending and receiving moves by correspondence.\nThe administration staff and other prisoners treated the believer with respect; many addressed him by his first name and patronymic. One of the inmates, who at first felt hostility toward Skachidub, changed his attitude when he saw the kindness of the believer and said: \u0026quot;You, Vladimir, are a true Christian.\u0026quot;\nFour more believers from the Krasnodar Territory serving prison terms for their faith.\n","category":"sentence","date":"2025-09-05T00:00:00Z","duration":"0:35","image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/09/081524/image_hu_77b50302720f0a4f.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/09/081524/image_hu_95b9fb2b3a05e85d.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/09/081524/image_hu_1972b071d0d1d2c6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/09/081524/image_hu_d148fbe8015af3ed.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/09/081524.html","regions":["krasnodar","ryazan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["release","disability","elderly","282.2-2","282.2-1.1","video"],"title":"Jehovah's Witness Vladimir Skachidub Released After Almost 4 Years Imprisonment","type":"news"},{"body":"The protocol of the examination of material evidence — video recordings — is read out. In one of them, a witness for the prosecution comments on sensitive political matters, while believer Aleksey Dmitriyev clearly distances himself from such discussions. The defense regards the behavior of the former as provocative.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-09-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20250904","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["first-instance","sizo","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Yevgeniy Stefanidin was returned to the penal colony of Perm. He needs a comprehensive examination by doctors.\nThe believer has not been given his letters for a long time.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2025-09-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20250904","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","letters"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests a punishment for the believer of 3.5 years in a penal colony.\nThe defendant makes her final statement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kamshilova in Kurgan","date":"2025-09-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan4/index.html#20250904","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","final-statement","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vladimir Gaydyshev, visually impaired, asks the court to allow a public defender to participate in the trial. The prosecutor is against it, because the defense lawyer does not have a legal education, although there is no such requirement in the Criminal Procedure Code. The court denies the believer's petition.\nAt the next hearing, Gaydyshev again asks to admit a lawyer - this time the court refuses to consider his petition.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gaydyshev in Shadrinsk","date":"2025-09-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk4/index.html#20250904","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Supreme Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic upholds the sentence of Vladimir Fomin - 4 years and 6 months in prison. The decision of the court of first instance enters into force.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2025-08-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20250826","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["appeal","liberty-deprivation","disability","282.2-2","282.2-1.1"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Yevgeniy Stefanidin undergoes a medical examination in the hospital at IK-9 in Solikamsk. However, given his condition, he needs a consultation with narrow specialists - a hematologist, an oncologist and other doctors, as well as a computed tomography. All these examinations and consultations are possible only in medical institutions in Perm.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2025-08-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20250810","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["life-in-prison","prison-treatment","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On July 29, 2025, Judge Natalia Shibanova gave Aleksandr Krushevskiy, 47, and Anatoliy Artamonov, 73, a 5-year suspended sentence with 1.5 years restriction of freedom. She found the believers guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization and involving others in it.\nThe first search at Krushevskiy\u0026#39;s home — there were three in total — took place back in 2018. Members of Artamonov\u0026#39;s family faced prosecution in 2019: then his daughter, Larisa, and grandson, Yevgeniy Yegorov, were charged. In early 2024, the investigation brought charges against Krushevskiy and Artamonov, citing hidden videorecordings of their conversations on Bible topics with friends.\nThe criminal case made the already difficult life of Aleksandr Krushevskiy, who has been hearing impaired since childhood, more complicated. \u0026quot;The old hearing aid has stopped working a long time ago, and I could not get a new one because of the prosecution. This is just one of the difficulties I had to shoulder,\u0026quot; he said in his final statement. During the interrogation, the believer was not provided with a sign language interpreter, and at the hearings he could not always make out the words of the judge.\nKrushevskiy\u0026#39;s wife is struggling with what is happening and hardly leaves the home. It is also emotionally hard for his mother. \u0026quot;Imagine, my dear mother sees her son, disabled since childhood, under investigation, running around the courts. Of course, it's heartbreaking for her,\u0026quot; Aleksandr revealed.\nAnatoliy Artamonov, a working pensioner, could not receive his salary in full because his bank card was blocked. The trial in the Birobidzhan District Court took a lot of time and energy, but the believer said that he \u0026quot;tried to spend every free minute with his wife, son and great-grandchildren.\u0026quot;\nAccording to Artamonov, he draws strength from the examples of his elderly and infirm fellow believers: \u0026quot;If they endure everything, then I can too. I particularly remember the example of Andrey Vlasov, a disabled person sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment.\u0026quot; Krushevskiy said about his attitude during the trial: \u0026quot;I tried not to think about the negative attitude of others — there are so many negative things. Instead, I helped everyone stay positive.\u0026quot;\nIn the Jewish Autonomous Region, 27 people have been prosecuted, of whom 13 were women. Four men are serving terms ranging from 3 years and 6 months to 6 years and 9 months in a penal colony.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-07-29T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/07/301335/image_hu_57ff73bc94a48165.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/07/301335/image_hu_a1cb6f8425bfd4a8.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/07/301335/image_hu_8c069aa6dae17428.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/07/301335/image_hu_606256a52d4a4342.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/07/301335.html","regions":["jewish"],"subtitle":"A Man with Impaired Hearing and a Pensioner Convicted in Birobidzhan","tags":["sentence","282.2-1.1","282.2-2","elderly","disability"],"title":"For Discussing the Bible — 5-Year Suspended Sentence.","type":"news"},{"body":"During his final statement elderly Anatoliy Artamonov tells the court about his beliefs. Aleksandr Krushevskiy explains, how studying the Bible helped him n life. Both believers ask the court to be acquitted.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Krushevskiy and Artamonov in Birobidzhan","date":"2025-07-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan21/index.html#20250728","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["final-statement","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A panel of judges at the Primorye Territory Court, chaired by Judge Irina Zhukova, upholds the guilty verdict.\nThe defense highlights that the court had criminalized the peaceful religious practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to the lawyer, the actions of the convicted persons posed no threat to public values protected by criminal law.\nIgor Lonchakov, 48, a disabled person, asked that his harsh sentence — 7 years in a penal colony — be canceled, considering his health condition and the fact that he has never engaged in extremist activity.\nArtist Yuri Redozubov was sentenced to 6.5 years in a penal colony. His works have been exhibited in several art salons and galleries in Russia and abroad. He asked the court to overturn the verdict, explaining that his wife, who has impaired hearing, has been left without the support she needs. His mother also requires constant care as she is bedbound since suffering a stroke.\nThe court dismisses these and other arguments presented by the lawyer and the convicted persons. The verdict enters into force.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Redozubov and Others in Vladivostok","date":"2025-07-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vladivostok/index.html#20250728","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["appeal","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vladimir Gaydyshev is a peaceful believer with a severe visual impairment. However, this did not prevent law enforcement officers from initiating a criminal case against him and prosecuting him.\nVladimir was born in March 1972 in Yurakhly, located in the Vargashinskiy District of the Kurgan Region. His mother worked for the railway as a station attendant and deputy head, and was also a commercial auditor and insurance inspector. She is now retired. From an early age, she instilled in her son love for people and helped him become an open and determined person. Vladimir had an older brother who is no longer alive.\nHe was interested in the arts from childhood — he attended a dance club and liked music. Later he developed an interest in poetry and now even writes poems, that inspire others to compose music.\nVladimir is a teacher of history, social studies and the German language. He studied at the Kurgan Pedagogical Institute. He was exempted from military service for health reasons.\nIn 1993, Vladimir first became interested in the Bible. He thought about the meaning of life; wondered why there is so much pain and injustice in the world. The young man found the answers in the Holy Scriptures — he learned that God has a name, Jehovah, that there will be a paradise on earth, and people will live in it forever. This prompted him to make the decision to follow Bible principles, and in 1994 he became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nNow Vladimir lives in Kurgan, where he moved to take care of his elderly mother. Like Vladimir, she has a disability.\nAfter the search, detention and interrogations, Vladimir suffered severe stress. His health problems worsened: his eyesight deteriorated even more, his blood pressure rose, and he started having panic attacks. He required treatment. All this also affected his emotional state.\nGaydyshev\u0026#39;s neighbors are perplexed why a criminal case under an article for extremism has been initiated against a peaceful person. Vladimir\u0026#39;s mother is outraged by the unjustified prosecution.\n","date":"2025-08-28","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/gaydyshev/photo_hu_e76454c49c343d87.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/gaydyshev/photo_hu_ebf962b487430dc4.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/gaydyshev/photo_hu_13a091a1a87e7c2f.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/gaydyshev/photo_hu_2bf49e87884b63ca.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/gaydyshev.html","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Vladimir Gaydyshev","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"On July 4, 2025, Irina Ushakova, 50, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, was given a 2-year suspended sentence. Irina has faced repression previously — at the age of 16 she was forced to leave Tajikistan due to ethnic discrimination. Now she has been convicted for her religious beliefs.\nThe proceedings against Irina have been ongoing since February 2024. The criminal prosecution, however, has defined the life of her family for more than 3 years: during this time, the home of the Ushakovs was searched twice, and Vitaliy, the head of the family, ended up in a pretrial detention center for 7 months. \u0026quot;I missed his support,\u0026quot; Irina recalls. \u0026quot;I had to fight to get permission to visit my husband, and it took courage to approach the authorities.\u0026quot; Shortly before those events, she underwent a serious operation and a course of radiotherapy.\nIrina Ushakova in the courtroom on the day of the verdict Irina with her husband Vitaliy. July 4, 2025 Friends hug Irina at the courthouse The Vyselkovskiy District Court has been considering Irina\u0026#39;s case since October 2024. She was accused of \u0026quot;taking part in religious discussions.\u0026quot; She explained her position in court as follows: \u0026quot;I do this because it is the command of Jesus Christ, written in the Bible in the Gospels... Jesus wants all his followers to preach, which is what I do.\u0026quot;\nIrina and her husband Vitaliy are really thankful to all the kind-hearted people who have helped them. Vitaliy said: \u0026quot;We felt their support even in the smallest things: some attended the hearing, some came to the courthouse simply to say kind words. They brought flowers and small gifts to each hearing — all of this strengthened us.\u0026quot;\nIn Vyselki, 15 of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, both men and women, are being prosecuted on religious grounds.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-07-04T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/07/080914/image_hu_a4dbb9bae21a29d7.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/07/080914/image_hu_c705dbfccb33c841.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/07/080914/image_hu_b9cfa591de9fa535.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/07/080914/image_hu_19bccc31b33e2e69.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/07/080914.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-2","disability","families"],"title":"Court in Vyselki Gives Yet Another Woman Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"Andrey Vlasov remains bedbound due to his chronic illness. He has problems with his blood pressure which can be controlled to some extent by medication. He also needs dental care.\nOut of respect for Andrey, the administration staff and other prisoners try not to use obscene language when talking to him. They often call him by his first name and patronymic or simply \"Valerich\". In his free time, he plays chess and solves crosswords. Recently, Andrey had an extended visit with his wife.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vlasov in Prokopyevsk","date":"2025-06-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopevsk/index.html#20250627","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Yuriy and Aleksey are kept in different cells with 3-4 other prisoners. The conditions are satisfactory; the necessary things are provided by relatives. Since the believers did not admit their guilt, the investigator banned them from receiving letters, visits and phone calls. It also now known that he has seized Dmitriyev's car.\nSergeechev suffers from cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus; Dmitriyev is finding it hard being separated from his wife. Nevertheless, both are trying not to lose heart.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-06-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20250626","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["sizo","elderly","disability","letters"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 23, 2025, the Cherkessk City Court sent Vladimir Fomin, 45, to a penal colony for 4.5 years. Judge Sapar Baychorov found the believer guilty of extremism for talking about the Bible with a local resident. Prior to the verdict, Fomin spent 1 year and 3 months in a pretrial detention center.\nAt the age of 20, Vladimir became a victim of hatred on religious grounds. Aggressive young people beat the believer right on the territory of the building for worship. The sustained injuries ultimately left him disabled. In February 2024, the home of the Fomin family was searched. Vladimir was placed in a pretrial detention center. He experienced a lack of prescribed medication in detention; his chronic illnesses worsened. During one of the court hearings, he even lost consciousness, so an ambulance had to be called.\nVladimir Fomin after his final statement in the courtroom The reason for the criminal prosecution of Fomin was conversations about the Bible with a local resident Y. Oncheva in the home of Yelena Menchikova, another believer from Cherkessk, previously given a suspended sentence of 4.5 years on similar charges. Later it became known that Oncheva, on the instructions of the FSB, covertly recorded these conversations.\nAt one of the court hearings, Vladimir Fomin stated: \u0026quot;Despite the fact that it is not forbidden in the Russian Federation to believe in Jehovah God, the prosecution identifies my religious affiliation and calls it not religious affiliation... but belonging to an organization declared extremist.\u0026quot;\nIn Karachayevo-Circassia, a republic with a population of less than 500,000 people, 13 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have already faced criminal prosecution for their faith in recent years. In February 2025, the court sentenced one of them to a long prison term.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-06-23T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/06/241326/image_hu_3e42bf3c90795c93.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/06/241326/image_hu_9f9ad518341cf787.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/06/241326/image_hu_3c830808df7c38d7.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/06/241326/image_hu_725fce8927c3878b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/06/241326.html","regions":["karachaevo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1.1","282.2-2","liberty-deprivation","disability"],"title":"Disabled Person in the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic Sentenced to Imprisonment","type":"news"},{"body":"Yevgeniy Stefanidin ended up in an exemplary unit, which repeatedly received diplomas and awards. According to one prisoner, the believer very quickly settled in. The attitude towards Yevgeniy is good, as he is non-confrontational, does not use swear words and is a responsibly worker.\nThe believer is concerned that he has not yet had a medical examination, which was supposed to happen back in May. Soon Yevgeniy will have to extend his disability card due to cancer.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2025-06-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20250620","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Yuriy Sergeechev and Aleksey Dmitriyev are held in double cells, each of them has another person with him. They have good relations with the believers.\nYuriy Sergeechev, 73, suffers from arrhythmia. He is disabled — walks with a cane and has poor eyesight. For a period after his arrest, he did not have the necessary medication. The medical unit could not give him the medication since they did not have it. Yuriy finds it difficult to understand the meaning of the case documents, so he has to reread the text several times.\nAleksey Dmitriyev needs dental care. According to available information, help from the appointed lawyer consisted of recommending the believer admit his guilt.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-05-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20250527","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["sizo","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\u0026quot;It\u0026#39;s hard to get used to the lack of normal living conditions when you\u0026#39;re over 70,\u0026quot; said Yuriy Sergeechev while in the detention center. He ended up there after his home was searched; he is disabled and has suffered two heart attacks.\nYuriy was born in March 1951 into a large family in the village of Sokolaevka, Oryol Region. His parents worked on a collective farm. They had five children. His father died early, but his mother lived for 84 years.\nIn his youth, Yuriy liked playing the guitar, wrote poems and took part in amateur performances. He qualified as an electrician at a technical college, and later graduated from Rostov State University as a psychologist. Yuriy worked as the director of the local Community Youth Centre, then as a mechanic in the Kuban Basin Water Administration.\nYuriy believed in God from his childhood, but, as he says, he only felt spiritual refreshment when he started reading the Bible. \u0026quot;I finally began to receive answers to my questions,\u0026quot; the believer recalls.\nIn 1991, Yuriy married Antonina and in 1993 he was baptized. Then he was living in Adygeysk and became the first Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witness in this town. His wife supported his interest in spiritual things and in 1994 she was also baptized. Antonina is an economist by education and a creative person. In her youth, she taught herself to play the accordion and entered music competitions.\nBefore his arrest, the couple led a busy life. They organized entertaining evenings for family and friends with quizzes and mini-performances; they enjoyed the outdoors, fishing and making gifts from natural materials. Yuriy built a fountain and a decorative fireplace with his own hands. The couple were often visited by their granddaughter and two great-grandchildren.\nIn April 2025, FSB officers searched the house of the Sergeechevs and took Yuriy away. He was placed in a pretrial detention center, despite his serious health condition: he has diabetes mellitus, poor eyesight and uses a cane to walk with because of problems with his legs.\nTheir relatives sympathize with the Sergeechevs and are impressed by their steadfastness and courage. Their neighbors are bewildered: \u0026quot;Why are they arresting such a law-abiding person?\u0026quot;\n","date":"2025-10-21","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/sergeechev/photo_hu_9bd746e1f054f5c9.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/sergeechev/photo_hu_fecc3067ede3a204.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/sergeechev/photo_hu_196280ddd6207ba5.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/sergeechev/photo_hu_3e252a10bb94724c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/sergeechev.html","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["elderly","health-risk","disability"],"title":"Yuriy Sergeechev","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Maykop City Court judge Marina Vittek sends Yuriy Sergeechev and Aleksey Dmitriev into custody until June 27, 2025.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-04-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20250430","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["sizo","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Zalim Ashinov opens a criminal case against 74-year-old disabled person of group III Yuriy Sergeechev and 57-year-old Aleksey Dmitriev from Adygeisk. The investigation interprets ordinary conversations about God with a local resident as involvement in an extremist organization.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Dmitriyev and Sergeechev in Adygeysk","date":"2025-04-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/adygeysk/index.html#20250428","regions":["adygea"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-1.1","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court allows the accused to go to another city for postoperative rehabilitation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yevtushenko in Krasnodar","date":"2025-04-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar3/index.html#20250416","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On March 24, 2025, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court upheld the sentence of Andrey Kozhushko, Andrey Bannykh and Pavel Loshchinin: 6 years suspended with a 4-year probation period.\nIn the appeal, the defense pointed out that the guilt of Kozhushko, Bannykh and Loshchinin had not been proven, and the verdict of the court of first instance had been passed with numerous violations. \u0026quot;The case materials contain only evidence of the activity of the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses which is not prohibited in the Russian Federation,\u0026quot; the document states.\nSpeaking about the witnesses for the prosecution, whose testimony formed the basis of the criminal case, one of the lawyers said: \u0026quot;These are just random people who were found by the officers and interrogated by the investigators. There is no evidentiary value in the words of these persons to support the classification made by the prosecution.\u0026quot; The defense pointed out that the witness for the prosectution, Isaev, participated in operational-investigative measures and was interested in the outcome of the case, therefore his testimony was aimed \u0026quot;not at establishing the truth, but at an attempt to... make religious activity look extremist.\u0026quot;\nIn his final statement, Andrey Bannykh said: \u0026quot;My God Jehovah teaches me through the Bible not to be an extremist. Proof of this is [the feedback of] people around me at work, neighbors, family, friends, and even the investigator. Your Honor, there has never been, is not and will never be any extremism on my part.\u0026quot;\nAndrey Bannykh was one of the applicants in a collective application that Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses from Russia filed with the ECHR shortly after their legal entities were banned in 2017. In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the prosecution of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses is unlawful. \u0026quot;The respondent State must take all necessary measures to secure the discontinuation of all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses,\u0026quot; the court said in its decision (§ 290).\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-03-24T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/03/250916/image_hu_3901784ab0e55c7c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/03/250916/image_hu_ec2631b28ae7e261.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/03/250916/image_hu_dc26f0c87c6700c8.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/03/250916/image_hu_bd479b4b5a11caad.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/03/250916.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":"One of the Convicted Persons Has a Disability","tags":["appeal","suspended","282.2-1","elderly","disability"],"title":"Court of Appeal in Sverdlovsk Region Upheld Suspended Sentences for Three of Jehovah's Witnesses.","type":"news"},{"body":"Vladimir is feeling better, but chronic illnesses are making themselves felt. He is worried about his wife, from whom he has been separated for the second year. The believer is supported by letters from friends and thoughts from the Bible.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2025-03-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20250323","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["sizo","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Lieutenant of Justice V. Borisov dismisses the criminal case. According to the investigation, it has not been proven that the defendants were members or acted on behalf of the liquidated organization. No signs of hatred, enmity or involvement of other persons in prohibited activities were found in the actions of the believers.\n","caseTitle":"Second Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2025-03-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk2/index.html#20250320","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["case-dismissed","families","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"From the criminal case of Ilya Ershov , materials against Vladimir Gaydyshev, a visually impaired of group I, are separated into a separate proceeding. This decision is made by the senior investigator of the Investigative Committee for especially important cases, Major of Justice Rayan Suleymanov. He is known for participating in the investigation of the case of Jehovah's Witnesses Ershov and Lubin, who died more than six months ago.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gaydyshev in Shadrinsk","date":"2025-03-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk4/index.html#20250320","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksandr Votyakov and Yevgeniy Stefanidin are in the Izhevsk pre-trial detention center, where they are awaiting transfer to a colony. The attitude of the administration and other prisoners towards them is good.\nFor 2 weeks in the detention center, Aleksandr and Yevgeniy received 50 letters each. Votyakov likes it when friends tell us in letters about their lives, animals, adventures or travels. He tries to exercise and go for walks. Aleksandr is worried about his wife and two sons.\nYevgeniy Stefanidin spoke about his little joy: in the court of appeal, he was allowed to hug his daughter before he was handcuffed and taken to a pre-trial detention center. Yevgeniy receives all the necessary medications for his illness in the isolation ward. He worries about his younger brother, Alexander, who is on trial for his faith.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2025-03-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20250305","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["sizo","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 13, 2025, Judge Andrey Nebogatikov of the Yoshkar-Ola City Court sentenced local believers to fines of 600,000 rubles for meetings for worship. One of them, Yevgeniy Plotnikov, 42, had his fine reduced to 500,000 rubles, considering the time he had spent in detention.\nIt took the court 4 months to find veteran of labor Eduard Kapitonov and his son Ilya, Sergey Kulikov and his son Aleksey, Igor Alekseyev, Vladimir Usenko, Denis Petrov, Ilya Buryi, Sergey Naymushin and Yevgeniy Plotnikov extremists. According to the prosecutor, the element of the crime consists of being organised in meetings for worship and participating in them. Based on this, the prosecution concluded that the men had recreated a legal entity liquidated by the court. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed at the appellate instance. The believers pleaded not guilty.\nIn his final statement, Yevgeniy Plotnikov emphasized: \u0026quot;The state prosecution demands harsh terms for us — 9 years in a penal colony. To tell the truth, such terms are not even requested for or given to real criminals, murderers and repeat offenders... The main mistake of the prosecution is not looking for extremism in my actions, otherwise all the charges would have been dropped long ago at the investigation stage, as there is no extremism. The prosecution only proves that I am a Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witness, simply a believer, which I have never denied.\u0026quot;\nThe local FSB Directorate conducted the investigation for 2.5 years, during which time the number of defendants increased from one to ten. The youngest of them, Ilya Kapitonov, is 23; the oldest, Sergey Kulikov, is 71. Sergey\u0026#39;s wife developed a malignant tumor due to the stress, and as a result one of her kidneys had to be removed. His son Alexey, father of five, developed hypertension. The property of Eduard Kapitonov, 59, was seized.\nYevgeniy Plotnikov\u0026#39;s lawyer said in his closing arguments: \u0026quot;The position of the prosecution, which actually requires believers to practice their religion [chaotically] under the threat [of punishment], is nothing other than the authorities attempting to force Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to renounce their faith.\u0026quot;\nThe right of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to worship in an organized manner was mentioned back in 2021 in the response of the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Irina Yakku, wife of one of the convicted Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses from Arkhangelsk: \u0026quot;Members of a liquidated organization can independently practice a religious cult, including as part of religious groups that do not require registration, on the understanding that this is not related to carrying out extremist activity.\u0026quot;\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-02-13T14:43:40+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/02/131443/image_hu_e7619c014b44fc42.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/02/131443/image_hu_8908e402416bc45b.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/02/131443/image_hu_51448f33efcc6c82.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/02/131443/image_hu_1da2bbcce8bc54ae.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/02/131443.html","regions":["mari-el"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","fine","282.2-1","disability","elderly","families"],"title":"Court Fined 10 Jehovah's Witnesses from Yoshkar-Ola for \"Convening and Participating in Meetings\"","type":"news"},{"body":"73-year-old Anatoliy Artamonov and 45-year-old Aleksandr Krushevskiy are included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Krushevskiy and Artamonov in Birobidzhan","date":"2025-02-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan21/index.html#20250211","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["rosfinmonitoring","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 4, 2025, the Sovetskiy District Court of Krasnodar sentenced Aleksey Lelikov, 64, to 6.5 years in a penal colony. Judge Irina Klyuyeva considered holding meetings for worship of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to be organizing the activity of an extremist organization. The believer was taken into custody in the courtroom.\n\u0026quot;I cannot agree to admit my guilt and call myself an extremist, even if it would benefit me,\u0026quot; Lelikov said in his final statement, \u0026quot;because then it would mean that worshipping God is a crime. For me, this is tantamount to denying God and his son Jesus, who have nothing to do with any form of extremism.\u0026quot;\nThree years ago the FSB initiated a criminal case against Lelikov, a musician like his father and finalist in the Teacher of the Year competition. His house was searched, and the believer and members of his family were interrogated. Soon Lelikov\u0026#39;s name was on the Rosfinmonitoring list, and his house and land were seized. In April 2022, due to impaired motor functions, Lelikov was categorized as having a disability.\nAleksey Lelikov with his wife and daughter on the day of the verdict Judge Irina Klyuyeva announcing the verdict Lelikov with his family in the courtroom The defendant, his wife and daughter going to the announcement of the verdict Aleksey Lelikov with his wife Irina The defendant in the courtroom Lelikov handcuffed after sentencing The defendant is taken away to be placed in a pretrial detention center after guilty verdict The charges of extremism brought against the believer come down to organizing religious presentations, meetings for worship and studying religious literature. \u0026quot;It was difficult to read the charge containing so many lies,\u0026quot; commented Lelikov. \u0026quot;I didn\u0026#39;t expect these degrading words to be like poison.\u0026quot; The charge was based on recordings of meetings for worship. The hearings in the case, which began in February 2023, revealed that the expert studies of these recordings contained contradictions and inconsistencies, which were highlighted by the defense.\nIn the Krasnodar Territory, 38 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have already been subjected to religious discrimination. At the moment, another 17 believers, including 7 women, are defending their beliefs in court.\nIn June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled to end the repression of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia. The ECHR declared the criminal prosecution of believers unlawful and called on the Russian authorities to release the prisoners.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2025-02-04T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2025/02/061002/image_hu_202dbe4d84073db5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2025/02/061002/image_hu_7594cf69bb7ae14f.jpg","webp":"/news/2025/02/061002/image_hu_a9346bea831bd17a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2025/02/061002/image_hu_cd8125e352a68996.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2025/02/061002.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1","disability","elderly"],"title":"Krasnodar Court Sends Music Teacher With Disability to Penal Colony for Practicing His Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 9 years in prison for each of the 10 defendants.\nThe accusation was based on video footage and the testimony of a classified witness. One defense attorney says that if the accusation were true, there would have been many witnesses in the case, not just one classified person who failed to identify the source of his knowledge.\nThe prosecution argues that the defendants do not spontaneously and separately profess their religion, which means that they continue the activities of an extremist organization. In the debates, the defense draws attention to the fact that the law prohibits the continuation or renewal of not any, but namely illegal activity, and no evidence of such was heard in court.\nThe prosecutor admits that the motive of enmity and hatred has not been proven. Lawyers remind that the presence of direct intent is a mandatory element of the corpus delicti under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Plotnikov and Others in Yoshkar-Ola","date":"2025-01-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/yoshkar-ola2/index.html#20250116","regions":["mari-el"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","282.2-1","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksandr Krushevskiy, a hearing-impaired person from Birobidzhan, became a defendant in a criminal case because of his faith. In February 2024, the homes of him and his elderly mother were searched. A year later, the man was summoned to an investigator and accused of extremism.\nAleksandr was born in March 1978 in the village of Slavyanka, Primorye Territory. He has an elder brother. The father is no longer alive. While at school, Aleksandr helped his parents with household chores on the farm. Later, he mastered confectionery and also studied to be a radio mechanic. After graduating, the young man began to work in his specialty—as a pastry chef, as well as a master for the maintenance and repair of household appliances. Later he worked as a tinsmith of drainage and ventilation systems and as a \u0026quot;foreman for an hour\u0026quot;.\nIn search of work, Aleksandr moved to Birobidzhan, where his brother lived at that time. There he began to study the Bible. Aleksandr recalls that he was especially impressed by the biblical promise that in the future his hearing would be restored. \u0026quot;I\u0026#39;m hard of hearing, I wear a hearing aid and I\u0026#39;m waiting for it. As soon as I feel that I hear, I will immediately throw away my \u0026#39;prosthesis\u0026#39;,\u0026quot; he shared. At the age of 30, Aleksandr was baptized as a Christian.\nIn July 2008, Aleksandr married Victoriya. She enjoys helping others learn sign language.\nThe searches affected Aleksandr\u0026#39;s emotional and physical state. Relatives and friends consider the persecution unfair and worry about the believer, especially given his disabilities.\n","date":"2025-02-06","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/krushevskiy/photo_hu_c64d3f64770b7d31.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/krushevskiy/photo_hu_92a8d9c9f6784d9a.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/krushevskiy/photo_hu_7329f9a3b56df378.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/krushevskiy/photo_hu_fe5517223d8783a6.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/krushevskiy.html","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Aleksandr Krushevskiy","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Anatoly Yevtushenko asks the court to allow him to go to St. Petersburg for hip replacement surgery. The judge rejects the petition, citing the need to obtain confirmation from the clinic. However, the court allows the believer to travel 100 km from Krasnodar to take care of his elderly bedridden mother.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Yevtushenko in Krasnodar","date":"2025-01-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar3/index.html#20250109","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Courts continue to send Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to prison, and the sentence of three of them has set a new record for severity. There have been cases of violence and torture, the proportion of the elderly among the \u0026quot;prisoners of conscience\u0026quot; has increased, there are people with severe disabilities, one of whom died shortly after the verdict; the trend of prosecuting entire families continues. Read about these and other findings for 2024 in this article.\nYear in numbers Judges announce the decision in the case of five believers in Moscow As of December 16, 2024, since the beginning of the year, Russian security forces have conducted at least 96 searches in the homes of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses — 17 in Crimea being the highest number. The total number of raids since the ban reached 2157.\nDuring 2024, 41 persons were made defendants in new criminal cases, of which 19 went through various types of detention, 15 of them are still behind bars. Last year, criminal cases were initiated against 100 believers.\nSentences were handed down to 116 believers. 43 of them (37%) were sentenced to imprisonment (It is noteworthy that this year nine people were sent to forced labor as a punishment). Terms of more than five years were given to 24 people (or almost 56% of those sentenced to imprisonment).\nSince 2017, 842 people have already been prosecuted; 450 of them have spent at least 1 day in custody. Currently, 147 prisoners of conscience are behind bars, either already convicted or awaiting sentencing. Of the 27 prisoners released from colonies, 8 were released this year. Although they have served their main sentence, most continue to experience numerous difficulties due to additional restrictions imposed by the court, which can last up to eight years or sometimes even more. \u0026quot;The cumulative numbers and severity of custodial sentences are increasing. To put it simply, during this year they imprisoned less, but more severely,\u0026quot; Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, commented on the statistics.\nIn 2024, the court handed down record-breaking sentences against three Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Khabarovsk residents Nikolay Polevodov, Vitaliy Zhuk and Stanislav Kim received eight years and six months, eight years and four months, eight years and two months in a penal colony, respectively. After about three months the court of appeal changed the punishment from imprisonment to a suspended sentence for shorter terms. Therefore, the longest term in 2024 was given to Alexander Chagan from Tolyatti — eight years in a penal colony. All in all, six believers have received such a harsh sentence since 2017.\nThe administration of the pretrial detention center forwarded 93 letters to Nikolay Polevodov, which arrived after his release from detention Over the seven years of mass persecution of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, the number of people sentenced has reached 543, and 186 believers have been imprisoned. Almost 61% of them (113 people) received terms of more than five years.\nIn 13 regions of Russia, the average term of imprisonment is 6 years or more. This is especially true with the southern territories — the Astrakhan, Rostov, Volgograd Regions, Crimea, and Sevastopol. For comparison: according to the official statistics of the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of Russia for 2023, of the 1297 people convicted for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, only 0.85% (11 people) were sentenced to terms of five to eight years. Most were sentenced to terms of two to three years. It seems that from the point of view of the Russian judicial system, Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are more dangerous than those who beat people to the point of disability. At the same time, hundreds of trials against Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses accused of extremism have not confirmed a single fact of extremist activity on the part of the believers.\nHunting the Elderly Of the new defendants who appeared in 2024, eight are over 60 years old, the oldest is 74 (Nina Smirnova). In total, among those charged with extremism, 235 people (156 men and 79 women) belong to this age category — this is almost 28% of all those prosecuted. \u0026quot;Up until last December, this share was 26%, and it increased by 2% in 2024. It may not seem much, but there are real people behind the numbers, whose freedom, health and even life are under threat,\u0026quot; said Yaroslav Sivulskiy. \u0026quot;Unfortunately, during criminal proceedings, 9 elderly men and women have already died. One of them — Aleksandr Lubin who was seriously ill. He died a month after his verdict was announced.\u0026quot;\nDuring the court hearings, Lubin had to lie down on a bench to recover his breath \u0026quot;He was very anxious on the days of the court hearings. Afterwards he and his wife needed a couple of days to recover, he had to lie down almost all the time on these days,\u0026quot; Lubin\u0026#39;s lawyer said. \u0026quot;Over the course of the year, his illness progressed and in December he was hospitalized, where he stayed longer than usual. After discharge, his condition remained serious.\u0026quot;\nShortly before his death, Lubin said in court: \u0026quot;It was very painful for me to see how elderly witnesses were interrogated during court hearings in my case. The investigation seemed to deliberately select those who were over 80. They no longer see and hear well; they do not understand many words. Therefore, it gave the impression that the investigators drew up the interrogation protocols at their own discretion.\u0026quot;\nSince the beginning of the persecution, 13 believers have already died: 3 women and 10 men. As of the end of 2024, 27 believers over the age of 60 are being held in colonies, pretrial detention centers, and special detention centers for persons sentenced to forced labor. For example, Boris Andreyev, 73, who was sentenced to six years in a penal colony (he is suspected of having cancer), and Anatoliy Marunov, 71, who received six and a half years in a penal colony, remain behind bars. \u0026quot;The oldest of all the convicted Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses is Yuriy Yuskov. When the suspended sentence imposed on him ends, he will be 90 years old. The oldest defendant is Elena Zayshchuk, 90\u0026quot; said Yaroslav Sivulskiy.\nOne of the examples when the courts did not even try to create the appearance of legality of the process is the case of Tatyana Piskareva. She is 68 years old, and for the past few months she has been held in the correctional center at colony-settlement No 3 for the Oryol Region. In the spring of 2024, the court sentenced her to two and a half years of forced labor, a type of punishment that, as expressly stated in Article 53.1 of the Criminal Code, is not imposed on old-age pensioners. Tatyana mentioned this in her appeal. However, as said in the decision of the appeal court, \u0026quot;the requirements of Article 53.1 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation were observed by the court.\u0026quot;\nAndrey Vlasov participates in the court hearing via video conferencing from the penal colony Andrey Vlasov, 56, who has a severe disability, has already been in prison for more than two and a half years. He was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony, and the courts deny him early release, despite his rapidly deteriorating health. He is practically unable to move his joints. He experiences constant pain, which is why even everyday tasks — for example, putting on underwear — are very difficult. Some tasks that are simple for a healthy person are completely beyond Vlasov\u0026#39;s strength. He has already fallen several times and could not get up on his own. According to the surgeon, Andrey needs an operation. Failure to do so will lead to an ischemic stroke of the spinal cord and paralysis of the limbs.\nMoreover, the Russian law enforcement system is not lenient to those who are younger, but whose health also requires a special approach. Vladimir Fomin, 44, who is disabled, has been in a pretrial detention center since the end of March 2024. According to his lawyer, Fomin\u0026#39;s condition is getting worse — his chronic illnesses have been exacerbated, and there is no proper treatment. During one of the hearings, he lost consciousness, an ambulance had to be called.\nTorture and Violence In 2024, four cases of violence by law enforcement officers became known. Also, one case of torture in a place of detention was recorded against convicted Rinat Kiramov of Akhtubinsk. The prisoners demanded that Rinat give the names of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses living in Akhtubinsk.\nRinat Kiramov speaks in court Rinat\u0026rsquo;s wife Galina is waiting in the corridor for the decision of the court of cassation Did the pressure achieve its goal? \u0026quot;After beatings and torture, Rinat does not feel that he is a victim. On the contrary, he feels great joy, because he endured everything with dignity, \u0026quot;said Kiramov\u0026#39;s wife Galina shortly after the events described.\nDuring raids in Omsk in March 2024, security forces beat Sergey Rygaev and Leonid Pyzhov.\nIn the same month, during a search in Tolyatti, Sergey Fedorov was beaten and detained. He is still behind bars.\nOn September 16, during raids in Samara, law enforcement officers had been using force against one of the believers for several hours. At some point, the man lost consciousness.\nOn December 5, during searches in Moscow, the security forces hit one believer on the head and abdomen, and broke his nose.\nProsecution of Families Vladimir and Anastasiya Anufriyev, as well as two other families involved in the case, can now only see each other during trials, in a special box for defendants The number of families where more than one person was prosecuted for their faith has exceeded 80. At least nine of them were added in 2024. In one of the cases, three married couples were made defendants at once — Vladimir and Anastasiya Anufriyev, Viktor and Alena Chernobaev, as well as Andrey Mikholap and his wife Oksana. All of them are in pretrial detention at the time of writing.\nIn December 2024 , Kristina Golik, Valentina Yermilova and Yekaterina Olshevskaya were sentenced to forced labor. Earlier, their husbands received long prison terms and are serving their sentences in a penal colony. Before the verdict was announced Yekaterina stated in court: \u0026quot;My husband and my father are imprisoned under the same article. I can see my husband only a few times a year. My son, who is four years old, misses his dad very much and is constantly worried that I will also be sent to prison. Every time he accompanies me to court, my young son asks: \u0026#39;Mom, will you return home today?\u0026#39;\u0026quot;\nIn January 2024, the court separated Aram Danielyan from his wife and young son. The believer was sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony Similar concerns were expressed by Kristina Golik: \u0026quot;My husband will be released in 2027, after which his freedom will be restricted for another year, and he will have a further eight years of administrative supervision. If I am given a prison sentence, then I will have to serve it... The question is: after how many years will we be reunited? I\u0026#39;m scared to even think about it.\u0026quot;\nHowever, the issue of destroying the families of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses turned out to be insignificant for the court — if the sentence enters into force, the believers will have to serve their sentences in a special institution for carrying out forced labor.\nRepressions Against Convicted Persons With the passage of time, law enforcement officers find new ways to put pressure on those who are imprisoned for their faith. For the first time since 2017, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses Viktor Stashevsky ended up in regular prison (not to confuse with a penal colony). Prior to that, he was held under strict detention conditions on the basis of penalties, most of which he was unaware of.\nDetention in strict conditions of imprisonment — placement in a punishment cell, CTF and SCTF — is a frequent practice in the cases of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. According to the rules, a prisoner should not be kept in such a room for more than 15 days, but in practice the punishment is extended, so that believers are kept in strict conditions for months. For example, Alam Aliyev, sentenced to six and a half years in a penal colony, has already been held for almost six months under strict detention conditions in IK-8 for the Amur Region. This is not compatible with the state of his health — he has diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, cardiac and neurological disorders.\nOften, the conditions for imprisoned Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are hardened on the basis of fabricated or far-fetched violations. The reason may be an unfastened button or the absence of a tag with the prisoner\u0026#39;s name on the cabinet. Sometimes the prisoner does not even know what violations he is charged with. Such penalties are used as grounds for denying believers visits from relatives and make it almost impossible for them to be released on parole. It happens that in a particular colony there is no room corresponding to the punishment. In this case, prisoners are transported to another (sometimes remote) region, to a colony where such a room exists. This limits the possibility to see relatives and receive parcels.\nConcerned people support those who are unjustly convicted with letters. However, censorship does not allow everything to pass through, cutting out or crossing out part of the text There are also specific methods of pressure — when believers are deprived of the opportunity to read the Bible. Often this is done under the pretext that the book does not have a stamp of approval from the Russian Orthodox Church. In the case of Andrey Danielyan and the abovementioned Rinat Kiramov, the FSIN officers went even further — personal copies of the Bible were seized not only from them, but also from all other prisoners. Kiramov\u0026#39;s relatives said that before that, other convicts lent Rinat their copies, but the colony staff forbade them to do so. Not only the Bible was confiscated from Danielyan, but also a personal notebook with quotes from this book.\nPracticing their religion can even result in a new term for a prisoner, as in the case of Dmitriy Terebilov from Kostroma. He became acquainted with the Bible many years ago in the penal colony. Thanks to his new knowledge, Dmitriy changed so much that the administration of the institution itself petitioned for his early release. After his release he became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Later, Dmitriy was convicted again, this time for his faith. On September 5, his term of imprisonment expired but he was not freed. A new criminal case was initiated against him for answering questions from a cellmate about the beliefs of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Now Dmitry is in a pretrial detention center and awaiting another trial. He faces an extension of his term from three to 10 years.\nNew Acquittal In 2024, Ruslan Atakuyev, judge of the Mayskiy District Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, found Kirill Gushchin not guilty of extremism. This decision withstood the courts of appeal and cassation, and the prosecutor\u0026#39;s office made an official apology. Since 2017, various courts have issued a total of 10 acquittals, but until that moment, only two of them were not overturned. In May 2021, the same Mayskiy District Court acquitted Yuriy Zalipayev.\nKabardino-Balkaria is the only region in Russia where Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have effectively been acquitted.\nKirill Gushchin leaves the courthouse after the announcement of his acquittal, he was greeted by a large support group International Support In the summer 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of 16 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses who were subjected to illegal searches, arrests, and convictions for their religion in Russia. Although Russia withdrew from the European Convention on Human Rights back in 2022, the Russian Federation is still obliged to pay compensation assigned to believers.\nOn October 24, 2023, the UN Human Rights Committee issued two opinions in favor of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses regarding the rulings to liquidate the local religious organizations (LROs) in Abinsk and Elista. In Russia, these rulings became precedent for the beginning of religious persecution, and a former member of the Abinsk LRO, the elderly Aleksandr Ivshin, is serving time for his faith in a penal colony.\nThe UN Human Rights Committee emphasizes that there are no calls for violence or other information inciting hatred in the literature of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. In both cases, Russia violated the right of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to \u0026quot;freedom of thought, conscience and religion\u0026quot; and \u0026quot;the right to freedom of assembly\u0026quot; (Articles 18.1 and 22.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights).\nThe Committee ordered Russia to reconsider the decisions on the ban and ordered it to \u0026quot;take all necessary steps to avoid similar violations in the future.\u0026quot; During 2024, hearings were held in Russia on this issue, but the Committee\u0026#39;s orders were never carried out. Moreover, after the publication of the Opinion of the Human Rights Committee on the liquidation of a religious organization in Abinsk, local security forces initiated a criminal case against Valeriy Baylo, 66 at that time, — for participating in the activity of the Abinsk LRO. The court sentenced the believer to two and a half years in a penal colony. Now he is in custody and is awaiting the decision of the court of appeal.\nAnd in June 2024, the Elista City Court found three women guilty of participating in the activity of the Elista LRO and gave Kishta Tutinova a three-year suspended sentence, and Yekaterina Menkova and Tsagan Khalgaeva two years suspended. The court of appeal toughened the sentence.\nNadezhda Korobochko Back in 2019, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Russian authorities to \u0026quot;drop the charges and release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, as well as the right to peaceful assembly and association.\u0026quot; It is obvious that the demands of the international community have not been met. However, this pressure — imprisonment, risk to health and sometimes even life — does not deprive Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses of their courage. Nadezhda Korobochko, 80, speaking in court before the verdict was announced, expressed the attitude of the majority of those prosecuted for their faith: \u0026quot;As long as I am alive, I will study the Bible. As long as I am alive, I will share the knowledge of God with other people, and nothing can make me give up my faith in God.\u0026quot;\n","category":"analytics","date":"2024-12-23T08:27:03+02:00","duration":"2:13","image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_f03b9c8adeb026a6.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_990bd52f1e0b72a9.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_2b62cd40b10aba1b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/12/230900/cover_hu_588887d1ec686d5c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/12/230900.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["analytics","torture","search","siloviks-violence","torture-conditions","families","prison-treatment","shizo","strict-conditions","letters","acquittal","international","united-nations","echr","died","elderly","disability"],"title":"\"They imprison less, but more severely.\" Repressions against Jehovah's Witnesses: 2024 Overview","type":"video"},{"body":"At the request of the public prosecutor, the court is returned to the stage of examination of the materials.\nThe debate is adjourned at the request of the prosecutor, as he needs to coordinate the punishment to be requested with the regional prosecutor's office.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lelikov in Krasnodar","date":"2024-11-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/krasnodar/index.html#20241128","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Lesnoy City Court found three local believers guilty. On November 25, 2024, Andrey Kozhushko, Andrey Bannykh and Pavel Loshchinin were given suspended sentences. Meetings for worship, during which Bible teachings were discussed, were deemed by the court as organizing the activity of an extremist organization.\nThe investigation lasted about a year. The Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Sverdlovsk Region initiated the case in March 2023, and in May of the following year it was submitted to the court for consideration by Lyudmila Yerzikova. The prosecutor requested 7 years imprisonment for the three defendants, including Andrey Kozhushko, 49, who is disabled. The believers do not agree with the verdict.\n\u0026quot;I saved dozens of lives, for which I received a government award,\u0026quot; said Pavel Loshchinin, 37, in his final statement. \u0026quot;And now it is as if my life is completely crossed out and will be like a struggle for survival, because I am branded an extremist. I will never accept this stigma.\u0026quot; Andrey Bannykh, 60, said that a person who lives according to God\u0026#39;s laws cannot be an extremist: \u0026quot;Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses invariably respect and obey the authorities in the country where they live.\u0026quot; Andrey Kozhushko expressed bewilderment: \u0026quot;What is being done against me and other [Jehovah\u0026#39;s] Witnesses — false accusations of extremism, interrogations, detentions, searches, torture, confiscations, blocking of bank cards and accounts — is clear persecution for our faith, in one word, repression. All this is happening to peaceful and respectable citizens of this country... I just can\u0026#39;t get my head around it.\u0026quot;\nThis is not the first conviction of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in the Sverdlovsk Region. Aleksandr Pryanikov, Venera and Darya Dulova received suspended sentences from 1 to 2.5 years after 4 appeals.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-11-25T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/11/260901/image_hu_d56207c93f88a158.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/11/260901/image_hu_cd4b5fcf0ecfbd67.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/11/260901/image_hu_8c7160ce02ab9e22.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/11/260901/image_hu_50d28c37b909f983.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/11/260901.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":"Three Jehovah's Witnesses Received 6-Year Suspended Sentences","tags":["282.2-1","sentence","elderly","disability"],"title":"Court in Sverdlovsk Region Passes Guilty Verdict for Faith.","type":"news"},{"body":"Kurgan Regional Court (78 M. Gorky Street, Kurgan). Time: 9:00 a.m.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2024-11-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20241114","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["appeal","282.2-1","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On November 14, 2024, the Kurgan Regional Court decided not to toughen the sentence against Anatoliy Isakov, 60, as Dmitriy Kulikov, Deputy Prosecutor of Kurgan, had sought. In his appeal he requested 8 years in a penal colony for the believer with a disability.\nAnatoliy\u0026#39;s peaceful meetings with friends, where Bible topics were discussed, were portrayed by the prosecution as organizing the activity of an extremist organization. Among the evidence presented against the believer were testimonies from witnesses who either did not know Anatoliy or had retracted their previous statements. A secret witness admitted during interrogation that Isakov\u0026#39;s actions did not violate anyone\u0026#39;s rights.\nFrom the very beginning of the criminal prosecution, Isakov faced threats to his health — he was placed in custody despite serious illnesses that precluded such a measure. Only after the intervention of human rights organizations was Anatoliy released from the pretrial detention center.\n\u0026quot;The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not ban the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses,\u0026quot; the believer emphasized in his final statement. \u0026quot;I still have the right to freely practice the religion I have chosen, including reading the Bible and discussing it with others, praying to God, singing songs praising God, and talking to others about my faith. [...] What is happening to me is political repression. Actually, I was found guilty for practicing the religion of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. By their actions, the state authorities have portrayed me in an unfavorable light before society, contributing to the spread of prejudice.\u0026quot;\nMany believers with disabilities face similar treatment from law enforcement officers. Among them are Andrey Vlasov, Vladimir Fomin, Adam Svarichevskiy, Vladimir Skachidub, Denis Peresunko, and Aleksandr Lubin. The latter died a month after his guilty verdict was handed down.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-11-14T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/11/181552/image_hu_1d42332331852c7c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/11/181552/image_hu_4251c9116bc2fec0.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/11/181552/image_hu_6f6dfafe05cad3ec.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/11/181552/image_hu_6c05a5ab7b5d2583.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/11/181552.html","regions":["kurgan"],"subtitle":"He Will Pay a Fine of 400,000 Rubles","tags":["appeal","health-risk","disability","282.2-1","fine"],"title":"Court of Appeal Upholds Sentence for Against Anatoliy Isakov, Cancer Patient, for His Faith.","type":"news"},{"body":"On November 11, 2024, Aleksandr Lubin, convicted for extremism, died at the age of 68. He, a disabled person, was kept in a pretrial detention center for over a month and released only after the intervention of the ECHR; every court hearing was a struggle for him, and after the verdict his condition became critical.\nIn July 2021, Aleksandr Lubin was arrested and taken into custody. According to medical certificates, keeping him in a pretrial detention center already then posed a real danger to his life. He had a serious vascular disease, hypertension and an autoimmune disease that affected various organs. He needed to receive humidified oxygen every day for 16 hours, which was not provided in the pretrial detention center. Lubin\u0026#39;s lawyers filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights, which was satisfied: 20 days later, he was released from the pretrial detention center.\n\u0026quot;I can say for sure that after the detention of Aleksandr and his stay in the pretrial detention center, his health deteriorated significantly. Before his arrest, he went to the store for groceries on his own, after his release he could no longer walk further than the courtyard of the house,\u0026quot; says Lubin\u0026#39;s lawyer. \u0026quot;He was very anxious on the days when the court hearings were taking place.\u0026quot;\nIn October, the court sentenced Aleksandr to a fine of 500,000 rubles, although the prosecutor had requested a 7-year suspended sentence. Lubin managed to appeal the court\u0026#39;s decision, considering it unjust and unlawful. Shortly after that, Aleksandr\u0026#39;s wife, Tatyana, reported that her husband was in intensive care on a ventilator — he could not breathe on his own.\n\u0026quot;The investigation and prosecutors believe that they are only doing their job. And the judges that they pass comparatively lenient — \u0026#39;merciful\u0026#39; — sentences. But all this injustice literally takes the lives of ordinary peaceful people,\u0026quot; says Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nAleksandr Lubin became the 12th Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witness in Russia to die while under investigation.\n","category":"bio","date":"2024-11-11T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/11/130920/image_hu_12f0707e49bdd815.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/11/130920/image_hu_b15c051137d4f3d9.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/11/130920/image_hu_a2a62393d77fcd7d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/11/130920/image_hu_7d07eec551a7841b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/11/130920.html","regions":["kurgan"],"subtitle":"Within 3 Years Elderly Man With Disability Went Through Pretrial Detention, Investigation and Court","tags":["died","elderly","disability"],"title":"Aleksandr Lubin Has Died","type":"news"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests 7 years in prison for Kozhushko, Bannykh and Loshchinin.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kozhushko and Others in Lesnoy","date":"2024-10-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesnoy/index.html#20241025","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On October 25, 2024, Oksana Nazarova, judge of the Pervomayskiy District Court of Izhevsk, gave Yevgeniy Stefanidin and Aleksandr Votyakov to 6 and 6.5 years suspended sentences, respectively. The court equated reading the Bible with fellow believers to organizing the activity of an extremist organization.\nThe prosecutor requested imprisonment in a penal colony for Votyakov, 50, and Stefanidin, 35, followed by 1.5 years restriction of freedom for each. The believers maintain their innocence and can appeal.\nThe criminal case was initiated against them in December 2022, by Artem Kholmogorov, senior investigator of the Investigative Committee. At that time, searches were conducted in the homes of the families of the believers (it was the second time for the Stefanidins). The investigation lasted about 8 months. The case went to court in August 2023. During the hearings, many witnesses were questioned, including a secret one. They either spoke positively about the defendants or said they hardly knew them. Some witnesses stated that they were pressured and threatened during the preliminary interrogation, so they retracted their statements during the trial and gave new ones in court.\nDue to the stress he experienced, Stefanidin\u0026#39;s health deteriorated, and in the fall of 2022, he was diagnosed with a disability. In his final statement, Votyakov asked the judge to take into consideration his friend\u0026#39;s condition and added, \u0026quot;He is raising a young daughter who loves her father very much and needs his tender care. Do not separate the family because of a ridiculous and baseless accusation.\u0026quot; Regarding the accusation against him, he noted, \u0026quot;The \u0026#39;evidence\u0026#39; gathered against me is that I was and am a Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witness... met with fellow believers, discussed the Bible and sang songs of praise to Almighty God Jehovah.\u0026quot; Yevgeniy Stefanidin said in his final statement, \u0026quot;The recordings and transcripts show that these were peaceful meetings for worship among friends and close people in a loving friendly atmosphere. There were no extremist statements, not even close.\u0026quot;\nThree weeks earlier, by the decision of the Supreme Court of Udmurtia, the sentence of three other Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses from Izhevsk entered into force. The international community regularly condemns the restriction of freedom of religion in Russia. According to the ECHR, \u0026quot;That broad definition of \u0026#39;extremism\u0026#39;... prevented individuals or organizations from being able to anticipate that their conduct, however peaceful and devoid of hatred or animosity it was, could be categorised as \u0026#39;extremist\u0026#39; and censured with restrictive measures.\u0026quot; (§ 158)\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-10-25T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/10/280833/image_hu_63a408e03ec9ee29.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/10/280833/image_hu_e446027c2cd1f301.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/10/280833/image_hu_e07ccbb993c23d1d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/10/280833/image_hu_7591605630ff3bf6.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/10/280833.html","regions":["udmurtia"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1","disability","suspended"],"title":"Court in Izhevsk Gave Two Men Long Suspended Sentences for Practicing The Religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"10 people come to the first court session. The prosecutor reads out the indictment.\nVladimir Fomin does not plead guilty and states: \"I believe that the investigation was misled and mistakenly claims that my peaceful actions in the practice of religion are a continuation of the activities of some extremist organization.\" He adds, \"I had every right to meet to discuss the Bible and fellowship.\"\nThe defense draws the court's attention to the prosecution's lack of \"a description of what kind of extremism the defendant committed.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20241017","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","sizo"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Andrey Vlasov, a disabled person of group II, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for his Christian beliefs. Neither his state of health, nor lengthy litigation in various instances helped him to achieve mitigation of his sentence. He is still serving his sentence in conditions that make his life almost unbearable.\nIn May 2022, Andrey was taken into custody and placed in a pre-trial detention center, where he seriously suffered from pneumonia. In October of the same year, he was sent to a penal colony. There, in just 7 months, his condition deteriorated markedly: arthrosis of the shoulder and knee joints of the second degree progressed to the third degree. He was later diagnosed with tuberculosis. In the spring of 2023, Vlasov was diagnosed with coronary heart disease. A medical examination conducted in April 2024 confirmed another serious disease of the musculoskeletal system: ankylosis of the hip joint.\nThe defense had a pack of medical documents confirming his condition, including the conclusion of a neurosurgeon, according to which Vlasov suffers from another extremely serious disease — absolute spinal stenosis, which requires surgery according to the specialist. The surgeon states that if an operation is not performed, it can lead to complete paralysis of the limbs and a spinal cord stroke.\nVlasov spoke in detail about his daily difficulties and how his condition deteriorated during his imprisonment, at the hearing for his appeal against the Pervomayskiy District Court of Novosibirsk ruling of August 3, 2023, which denied his motion to be released due to illness. He cannot raise his arms or wash his hair and can hardly put on underwear, due to the stiffness of his joints and constant pain.\nAndrey cannot walk without a cane or crutch, as he has already fallen several times, and he cannot get up on his own. Also, he cannot carry objects from one place to another, for example, groceries from the store or a tray with food in the dining room. Ordinary everyday activities cause severe pain, which sometimes prevents him from sleeping.\nThe court of appeal did not take into account the evidence showing that the believer cannot take care of himself and needs constant help and medical care. Also, the court did not pay attention to serious errors in the results of two medical commissions, which even concluded that the convicted person did not have any diseases specified in the List of Diseases.\nAndrey Vlasov is not the only Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witness with a disability who is being prosecuted in today's Russia for their faith in God. This and other similar cases demonstrate the indifference of the judicial system to the suffering of convicted persons and a gross violation of human rights.\n","category":"prison","date":"2024-10-15T13:12:33+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/10/151312/image_hu_16bab60b6f37efc9.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/10/151312/image_hu_3b370e2a2bf335fd.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/10/151312/image_hu_afbde4d034dceb25.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/10/151312/image_hu_af93a2ae4551f8b1.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/10/151312.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["mitigation","prison-treatment","parole","disability","health-risk"],"title":"Andrey Vlasov Remains in Penal Colony Despite his Progressive Serious Illness. Why?","type":"news"},{"body":"Votyakov gives explanations on the video recordings of liturgical meetings reviewed by the court. He reports that he participated in them out of love for God, and also notes that these were not meetings of the LRO.\nStefanidin asks to attach to the case file copies of medical documents on his state of health, including a certificate of social examination that he is a disabled person of group II.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Votyakov and Stefanidin in Izhevsk","date":"2024-10-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/izhevsk2/index.html#20241008","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Peaceful pensioner Aleksandr Protasov was involved as a witness in the case of Yuriy Yuskov, and later he himself was accused of extremism.\nAleksandr was born in August 1956 in Zelenodolsk (Tatarstan). He was the third of four children in the family. His elder brother and sister, as well as his parents, are no longer alive.\nAfter school, Aleksandr graduated from the Zelenodolsk Mechanical College, where he received the specialty of a technician-technologist. He worked as a turbine equipment repairman at Chuvashenergoremont OJSC in the city of Cheboksary (Chuvashia). Later he moved to Novocheboksarsk. The man is already retired. From childhood to this day, he loves to play hockey, and in the summer, in his free time, he rides a bicycle and goes to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries.\nWhen Aleksandr first read a book about the origin of life in the 2000s, he was surprised at how birds, especially warblers, navigate and know where and when to fly. Thinking about this led him to the conclusion that God created everything around him. The man was also impressed by the accurate fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Love for God and the Bible prompted him to embark on the Christian path in 2005.\nAleksandr married Svetlana in January 1987. She is a believer, like her husband. She likes to grow houseplants. Svetlana is a disabled person of group II. The couple raised two sons who share their religious views. The eldest son already has his own family, and the youngest has been disabled since childhood.\nThe criminal prosecution affected the health of the spouses. Relatives worry about the Protasov family and do not understand why Aleksandr is being persecuted.\n","date":"2024-10-29","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/protasov/photo_hu_3a1c760098e2f2fa.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/protasov/photo_hu_e604ba58b74b8412.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/protasov/photo_hu_55ca758893e91733.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/protasov/photo_hu_967adaa2fa17c9ba.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/protasov.html","regions":["chuvashia"],"tags":["elderly","disability"],"title":"Aleksandr Protasov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"On October 7, 2024, Natalya Korotneva, judge of the Shadrinskiy District Court of the Kurgan Region, sentenced 68-year-old Aleksandr Lubin, a disabled person, to a fine of 500,000 rubles. The criminal trial in this case took three years.\nThe prosecutor requested a suspended sentence of 7 years for the believer with a 4-year probation period. Aleksandr does not admit guilt – in his opinion, the investigation wrongfully deemed jointly worshipping God to be continuing the activity of a banned legal entity. The believer may appeal the verdict in the higher courts.\nIn July 2021, Nikolay Astapov, an investigator for especially important cases of the First Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Kurgan Region, initiated a criminal case against Aleksandr Lubin. Then, armed law enforcement officers broke into the home of the elderly disabled couple. Distressed by the search, Tatyana, Aleksandr\u0026#39;s wife, suffered a fourth stroke — she lost the use of her legs and ability to speak. The believer was charged with organizing extremist activity and taken for interrogation to the investigative committee, and then placed in a pretrial detention center for 2 months.\nWhen deciding to detain the believer, Yevgeniy Kolesov, judge of the Kurgan City Court, did not take into account his disability and the danger to his health and life presented by the detention conditions, although the defense had provided all the necessary medical documents. Aleksandr Lubin has a serious vascular disease, hypertension, as well as polyarthritis – a severe autoimmune disease. Due to constant pain in the hip joints, he can hardly move; as prescribed by his doctors, he must use an oxygen cylinder for 16 hours a day, which is not possible in custody.\nThe defense filed a complaint with the ECHR about the detention of the believer. The European Court sent an inquiry to the RF Prosecutor General\u0026#39;s Office. The lawyers also appealed to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Kurgan Region, Boris Shalyutin, and he initiated an urgent inspection. After that, Aleksandr Lubin was sent to the hospital for a medical examination, which established that his state of health did not allow him to be kept in custody. Eventually, after 1.5 months of detention, the court decided to release the elderly believer from the pretrial detention center under a ban on certain actions.\nAddressing the court, Aleksandr expressed his view of the case as follows: \u0026quot;The charges brought against me are purely based on a preconceived idea about Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. This approach toward my fellow believers was also prevalent during Nazi Germany, when thousands of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses were thrown into prisons and concentration camps, hundreds were executed, and thousands died from inhumane treatment. Anyone who was identified as one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, regardless of age, was immediately taken into custody. I do not want Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses to be treated with the same prejudice in the Kurgan Region.\u0026quot;\nAlmost all Russian law enforcement agencies are engaged in the persecution of elderly believers: the FSB, the Prosecutor\u0026#39;s Office, the Investigative Committee, the National Guard, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the OMON and the SOBR.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-10-07T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/10/080902/image_hu_a12cdf840d37356a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/10/080902/image_hu_fb63f92bb7fa33be.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/10/080902/image_hu_68b8afe929695fab.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/10/080902/image_hu_73a702ff7c884912.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/10/080902.html","regions":["kurgan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","282.2-1","disability","elderly","medical-rights","health-risk","torture-conditions","echr"],"title":"Another Victim of Persecution of Disabled Believers: Court Declared Seriously Ill Pensioner Aleksandr Lubin as Extremist","type":"news"},{"body":"The room in which Andrei Vlasov is kept is designed for 24 people, but in fact there are 6 prisoners there. Cellmates treat the believer well and try to support him. Vlasov's disease is progressing. Since it is already difficult for him to move with two canes, he is forced to use a cane and a crutch. In the colony, acceptable conditions have been created for the man: a bed with an orthopedic mattress, clean bed linen and a warm blanket. He receives the necessary medications in a timely manner.\nCalls to his wife and visits with her help Andrey to maintain a positive attitude. Letters also support the believer, although they are issued with a delay.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vlasov in Prokopyevsk","date":"2024-10-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopevsk/index.html#20241004","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","letters"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Vladimir Skachidub is experiencing additional health difficulties: he has been feeling congestion and pain in his ears for a long time, which is why his hearing has deteriorated. The believer sought help from the medical unit of the colony, but could not receive it, since there is no otolaryngologist there. In addition, Vladimir suffers from hypertension and takes medications on a regular basis.\nSkachidub applied for parole, but was denied, despite the incentives he had for conscientious work. Also during the parole commission, the believer received a verbal reprimand for not fastening the top button on his jacket.\nDespite the difficulties, Vladimir maintains a positive attitude. He tries to answer all the letters that come to him, and in his spare time he plays chess by correspondence. The believer continues to maintain respectful relations with other prisoners.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Skachidub in Pavlovskaya","date":"2024-09-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pavlovskaya3/index.html#20240912","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"\"Although I am physically weaker, my faith in God and the expectation of his promises are getting stronger every day,\" Aleksandr Lubin makes his final statement in court.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-09-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240909","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["final-statement","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In his speech in court, the believer asked the following questions: \"Why am I called an extremist? What actions have I taken that have caused pain, suffering, or harm to those around me? Is it a crime to read the Bible, discuss Bible teachings, and praise God in chants with your friends?\"\n","date":"2024-09-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/475.html","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["final-statement","disability","elderly"],"title":"The final statement of the defendant Aleksandr Lubin in Shadrinsk","type":"docs"},{"body":"In the summer of 2024, Anatoliy Yevtushenko, a driver from Krasnodar, was summoned to the investigator and placed under a recognizance agreement. This is how he learned that a criminal case had been opened against him for his faith. A year and a half later, the court sent him to a penal colony for 2 years.\nAnatoliy was born in May 1971 in Ipatovo (Stavropol Territory). He has a brother on his mother\u0026#39;s side and two sisters on his father\u0026#39;s side. When the boy was 3, his parents divorced and he moved with his mother to Batumi (Georgia). He spent his childhood there. He was fond of swimming, athletics, and rowing.\nIn 1988, Anatoliy, after studying at school, went to Crimea, where he graduated with honors from the school, having received the specialty of a culinary cook. Immediately after that, he was drafted into the army. Anatoliy served in Germany and then moved to Krasnodar and got a job as a cook in a river shipping company. Later, he mastered the profession of a carpenter in furniture production and then decided to try himself in the construction industry and acquired many different skills in this area. Over time, due to an injury, the man took up private transportation. His favorite route is the Sochi serpentines.\nIn 1997, Anatoliy married Irina. Their firstborn died a month and a half after birth. A year later, the couple had a daughter. She is already married and lives separately. In the care of the couple Yevtushenko was Anatoly\u0026#39;s mother, a disabled person of group I. She did not get out of bed for several years and needed constant care, which her son provided her, despite his own health problems and the lawsuit.\nIt was thanks to his mother that Anatoliy got acquainted with the Bible. She instilled in her son respect for this book, which she herself read more than once. Anatoliy and his mother attended meetings for worship in different denominations in search of answers to their spiritual questions. In 1998, they met Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses and began studying the Bible. The next year, Anatoliy took the Christian path. He recalls: \u0026quot;It amazed me that God has a name, as well as a logical explanation for the cause of our suffering, and, of course, the hope for the resurrection of people dear to our hearts.\u0026quot;\nIn 2006, Anatoliy had an accident, seriously injured his leg, and over time he developed osteoarthritis and coxarthrosis. In August 2024, the believer received group II disability and already during the trial underwent hip replacement surgery. He still loves to cook and watch cooking shows.\nYevtushenko\u0026#39;s house was searched for the first time in 2022. The first few months were emotionally difficult. To support himself, the believer visited fellow believers who found themselves in similar circumstances. \u0026quot;Therefore, when I was handed in a decision to initiate a criminal case and a recognizance agreement, I took it calmly,\u0026quot; he recalls.\n","date":"2024-09-12","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/yevtushenko/photo_hu_bed602363017ae2c.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/yevtushenko/photo_hu_ec3ea6f6c3382bb7.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/yevtushenko/photo_hu_c9517366f7b05cbe.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/yevtushenko/photo_hu_74737182be5a7ada.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/yevtushenko.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Anatoliy Yevtushenko","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In the summer of 2024, a criminal case was opened against Aleksandr Stefanidin from Izhevsk, searches were carried out in his house, after which the man was sent to a pre-trial detention center. Earlier, in 2021, his older brother Yevgeniy became a defendant in a similar case for his faith.\nAleksandr was born in September 1991 in Izhevsk (Udmurtia). His father is a security guard in a supermarket, and his mother worked as a tram driver and cleaner until her retirement. Aleksandr grew up in a large family: in addition to his elder brother, he has two sisters.\nAs a child, Aleksandr was engaged in drawing and crafts, in his youth he loved fishing, and went hiking. After school, he studied as an electrician, and then worked for almost 10 years as an administrator of a holding company that rents out commercial real estate.\nHis mother told Aleksandr about God when he was still in kindergarten. Later, he himself became interested in the Bible and the prophecies recorded in it. In 2007, the young man made the decision to become one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. Because of his peaceful views, instead of military service, he did alternative civilian service in a hospital.\nIn 2015, Aleksandr married Anastasiya, a lawyer by education who shares his religious views. He moved to his wife in Votkinsk, and 4 years later returned to Izhevsk with her.\nAnastasiya is engaged in hair reconstruction, is fond of make-up. Aleksandr still enjoys fishing, and he is also fond of cars. Together, the couple love to walk, travel by car, and watch programs about the animal world and space.\nThose close to Aleksandr are worried about what is happening and consider the accusation of extremism groundless. At work, he is appreciated and is waiting for his return. Against the background of emotional stress and separation, Anastasiya\u0026#39;s health deteriorated. Despite everything, the couple tries not to lose heart.\n","date":"2024-09-05","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/stefanidin2/photo_hu_6bb156dd7b2c08af.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/stefanidin2/photo_hu_14fc1106696a73d3.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/stefanidin2/photo_hu_29a4482001e4c36.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/stefanidin2/photo_hu_badca0783d5560a9.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/stefanidin2.html","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["families","disability"],"title":"Aleksandr Stefanidin","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"One of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, Anatoliy Isakov, 59, was found guilty of extremism for holding peaceful meetings for worship. On August 8, 2024, Sergey Lytkin, judge of the Kurgan City Court, imposed a fine of 500,000 rubles on him, reducing it to 400,000, taking into account the believer\u0026#39;s stay in custody.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The court also ordered Isakov to pay legal costs of 6,900 rubles. The prosecutor had requested a 6.5-year suspended sentence for Isakov.\nThe hearings lasted about a year. The charge of organizing the activity of an extremist organization was based on the testimony of witnesses. However, some of them were not acquainted with the defendant, others did not confirm their testimony given during the preliminary investigation, and a secret witness said that Isakov's actions did not violate anyone's rights. \u0026quot;The charge against me is extremely unreasonable,\u0026quot; Anatoliy Isakov said in court. \u0026quot;Expressing hatred, enmity and violence is incompatible with my views. I treat people of other religions and nationalities with respect. Everyone who knows me can confirm that.\u0026quot;\nThe criminal prosecution began in July 2021, when FSB officers searched Isakov\u0026#39;s apartment. The believer was placed in a pretrial detention center, despite the fact that he needed to undergo chemotherapy on a monthly basis. In addition, he was deprived of painkillers, which he needed due to spinal surgery. The believer had difficulty walking. For 1.5 months, he sought to mitigate the preventive measure, but only after a request from the ECHR to the Prosecutor General\u0026#39;s Office of the Russian Federation and an inspection by the Human Rights Ombudsman, the court released Isakov from the detention center, admitting that he had an illness that prevented him from being kept in detention.\nAfter his release, an electronic bracelet was placed on the believer\u0026#39;s leg, and every week he had to report to the Penitentiary Inspectorate. As Isakov was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list, his bank account was blocked, and it was difficult for him to receive his disability pension.\nIsakov said what helped him not to lose heart: \u0026quot;I tried to be positive, observed hygiene and routine in the detention center. When he received parcels from relatives and friends, he shared what he could with his cellmates. That also brought me joy. After all, there's more happiness in giving than receiving.\u0026quot; During 1.5 months in pretrial detention, Anatoliy received about 500 letters of support from all over the world. Isakov coped with emotional and material difficulties, thanks to the support of friends and fellow believers. \u0026quot;I personally felt the true brotherly love that Jesus spoke about,\u0026quot; Anatoliy shared his feelings.\nAnother six Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses from the Kurgan Region are being prosecuted on similar charges, three of them are defending their beliefs in court.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-08-08T11:50:23+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/08/081150/image_hu_e39dc33c5db8d603.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/08/081150/image_hu_a39513849d520bee.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/08/081150/image_hu_ce346f339737bdd7.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/08/081150/image_hu_23dc5dd6643bfd2b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/08/081150.html","regions":["kurgan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","282.2-1","fine"],"title":"Court in Kurgan Fined a Disabled Man Suffering from Cancer 400,000 Rubles for His Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"In his final statement, Anatoly Isakov says: \"Your Honor, how can high-ranking people, for example, the president, members of the Council of Europe, representatives of the UN or you, learn about God? Only the situation with the persecution of believers will create such conditions. And now here I am – the president, the members of the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and even you have to listen to Jehovah's Witnesses and delve into their teachings.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2024-08-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20240807","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["final-statement","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The verdict against Mikhail Reshetnikov, 75, veteran of labor, Yuriy Kolotinskiy, 69, disabled and Anatoliy Sarychev, 74, entered into force with minor changes \u0026ndash; the corresponding decision was issued by the Altai Territorial Court on July 19, 2024. Each of the believers received a 2-year and 3-month suspended sentence.\nKolotinskiy, Reshetnikov and Sarychev received suspended sentences for charges of participating in the activity of an extremist organization because they participated in peaceful religious meetings of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. The court of appeal amended the part of the verdict regarding the restriction of freedom: the believers are forbidden to visit places of mass events and participate in them without the consent of supervisory bodies, while the ban on participating in other events was excluded from the verdict. The territorial court also ruled that some personal belongings of the believers, which the law enforcement officers seized as material evidence, should not be destroyed.\nYuriy Kolotinskiy on the day of the appeal hearing In the appeal, the Barnaul residents pointed out: \u0026quot;All the charges [of extremism] do not correspond to reality, as evidenced by the facts from the criminal case, from the expert studies, as well as from the words of witnesses interrogated in court; [...] wholly legitimate conduct aimed solely at expressing one\u0026#39;s faith in ways characteristic of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses around the world was wrongly regarded by the court as illegal actions.\u0026quot;\nAccording to the believers, the criminal prosecution exacerbated the difficulties already caused by old age and failing health. However, all three are grateful for the support from family and friends. \"They pray for us, come to court, stand and wait for us in the cold on the street and meet and see us off with applause. This touches my heart,\" said Anatoliy Sarychev earlier.\nIn total, 9 of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are being prosecuted on similar charges in the Altai Territory, two of them are serving sentences in a penal colony.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-07-19T16:53:16+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/07/191653/image_hu_be12bbe706363288.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/07/191653/image_hu_7dc732362bd826a6.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/07/191653/image_hu_91d4e12ace84f191.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/07/191653/image_hu_52d16a0f7e3f61c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/07/191653.html","regions":["altaisky"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","282.2-2","suspended","elderly","disability"],"title":"Court of Appeal Upheld Suspended Sentences for Three Elderly Residents of Barnaul for Talking About Jehovah","type":"news"},{"body":"At the age of 16, Irina Ushakova was forced to flee Tajikistan after facing persecution on ethnic grounds. Thirty-two years later, she was persecuted again, this time in Russia, for her faith in Jehovah God.\nIrina was born in 1974 in Dushanbe. She has a younger sister. Their mother is retired, their father died in 2020.\nAs a child, Irina was engaged in acrobatics and athletics. After school, she studied to be a hairdresser, then worked at a meat processing plant as a sausage molder. Since 2021, she has not been working, as she is on disability. Irina likes to grow flowers; she is also fond of confectionery.\nFrom her youth, Irina was looking for answers to questions about God. At the age of 16, she bought herself a Bible with the money she gave her on her birthday. Irina recalls that she fell in love with Bible teachings when she began to apply the advice from this book and saw a positive result. In 2004, she became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nIn 2006, Irina married Vitaliy, who shares her views on faith. Together they raised two sons.\nIn 2022, two searches were carried out in the Ushakovs\u0026#39; house within a week. Later, criminal cases were initiated against the spouses. Vitaliy was in a pre-trial detention center for 7 months, then he was transferred to house arrest. The believer said: \u0026quot;In the family, we have always supported each other, and persecution has only brought us closer.\u0026quot;\nThe persecution has a negative impact on the health of Irina, who is registered with the cancer center. Relatives and friends are worried about Irina and Vitaliy.\n","date":"2024-09-02","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/ushakova/photo_hu_f92d59f60a51664.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/ushakova/photo_hu_eab5ccd5c514e50e.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/ushakova/photo_hu_154237d0393ec1a1.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/ushakova/photo_hu_c3c121e45f53e232.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/ushakova.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["families","disability"],"title":"Irina Ushakova","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"The court examines two witnesses for the prosecution. Both women state that they do not know the defendants. One of them communicated with Jehovah's Witnesses 26 years ago, another has a friend who professes this religion. The latter notes that the believers never demanded property and money from her, did not threaten her, and she did not hear calls for illegal activities from them.\nOther prosecution witnesses did not appear in the courtroom. At the request of the defense, the judge decides to summon them again. The prosecutor then reads out the charges.\nAfter the break, the court hearing, at the request of Andrei Kozhushko, was adjourned to another day because of his seizure.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kozhushko and Others in Lesnoy","date":"2024-07-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesnoy/index.html#20240717","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","interrogation","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests for Anatoly Isakov 6.5 years probation with a probationary period of 3.5 years and deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the dissemination of religion, religious education, holding religious services, religious ceremonies for a period of 9 years.\nThe defense filed a motion for the defendant to participate in the debate and adjourn the hearing to prepare Isakov for it. The court grants these requests.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2024-07-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20240716","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["punishment-request","first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Laktionov brings Irina in as an accused.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ushakova in Vyselki","date":"2024-07-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki11/index.html#20240711","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["282.2-2","disability","families"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Irina Ushakova is given a recognizance agreement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ushakova in Vyselki","date":"2024-07-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki11/index.html#20240710","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["recognizance-agreement","disability","families"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"22 people come to the court session to support the believers, but not everyone is allowed into the courtroom.\nThe prosecutor reads out the indictment, the defendants express their disagreement with the charges.\nAndrey Bannykh says: \"I am only accused of gathering with fellow believers at meetings for worship of Jehovah's Witnesses and reading religious texts.\" He adds: \"In fact, I am being forced to renounce my religion, I am being deprived of the right to freely choose, have and spread religious beliefs and to act in accordance with them.\"\nAndrei Kozhushko told the court: \"It is clear from the content of the indictment that all the activities of the investigation and operational officers were aimed not at identifying signs of extremism..., but at suppressing religious activity.\"\nHe also talks about the political repression of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR and draws a parallel with his family: \"Unfortunately, today this injustice is repeated, and it affected my family. My family and I are in the greatest perplexity from the criminal prosecution and accusation, with which I categorically disagree.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kozhushko and Others in Lesnoy","date":"2024-07-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesnoy/index.html#20240701","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksandr Lubin speaks in court with the last word.\nThe defense files a motion to attach an important document for the investigation. The judge supports the lawyer's opinion and grants the motion. To attach the document, the judge returns the trial to the previous stage and then re-announces the beginning of the arguments of the parties.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-06-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240627","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["final-statement","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Another witness states that his affidavit contains falsifications: the investigator added names that were not mentioned during the interrogation.\nAnother prosecution witness notes that communication with Jehovah's Witnesses helped her elderly relative cope with the pain of loss due to the death of her husband.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Petrenko in Gorno-Altaysk","date":"2024-06-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/gorno-altaysk2/index.html#20240621","regions":["altai"],"tags":["first-instance","fabrications","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In May 2024, Irina Kamshilova, a peaceful resident of Kurgan, was prosecuted because of her belief in Jehovah God. This seriously affected the health of a woman who has a disability.\nIrina was born in March 1968 in Kurgan. She is the only child in the family. Her mother is no longer alive. Irina has an adult daughter.\nAs a child, Irina loved history and read a lot. After school, she entered a vocational technical school, where she received the specialties of a master tiler and plasterer-painter. She practically did not work by profession, and in 1996 she became disabled.\nIn her free time, Irina loves to knit. She also sets aside time for exercise, takes care of the garden and loves to chat with friends, including those from different cities.\nIrina believed in God from childhood. When her grandfather died, she was very worried. What she later read in the Bible about the condition of the dead supported and comforted her. Irina wanted to take the Christian path, which she did in 2001. Speaking in court with the final plea, she shared: \u0026quot;If you felt such love, peace and happiness inside, in your heart, you would not give anyone the opportunity to take this treasure away from you. As a child, I read a lot about how people look for the bird of happiness, and to be honest, I myself always thought about how to find it, how to become happy. It was only when I met Jehovah, a loving spiritual family, that I found this happiness.\u0026quot;\nIrina has already survived two searches. After the first one, in 2021, the believer developed heart disease due to stress, and she was also diagnosed with leukemia. Irina\u0026#39;s condition worsened against the background of the fact that she was repeatedly summoned for interrogations, where she was subjected to pressure and provocations from investigators.\n","date":"2024-07-26","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/kamshilova/photo_hu_f338209093470e7.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/kamshilova/photo_hu_b10854641312db5d.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/kamshilova/photo_hu_a63dca026af3a5b6.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/kamshilova/photo_hu_f45755d5b9f73e47.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/kamshilova.html","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["disability","health-risk"],"title":"Irina Kamshilova","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Vladimir Fomin's health in the pre-trial detention center is deteriorating. He does not receive the necessary medicines, because of this, his chronic diseases have worsened.\nTwo more people are kept in the cell where the believer is located. He has a bed, but the sanitary condition of the bedding is unsatisfactory.\nHis wife gave Vladimir a parcel, but he did not receive it. Letters arrive, but irregularly. The administration of the pre-trial detention center promises to establish regular delivery of correspondence. Vladimir can take walks and read the Bible.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2024-06-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20240614","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["medical-rights","health-risk","sizo","letters","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The prosecutor asks the court to sentence the disabled person of group II Alexander Lubin to 7 years conditionally with a probationary period of 4 years.\nThe defendant provides the court with information about the impact on his life and health of his stay in the pre-trial detention center, where he spent 1.5 months and was released only after a complaint to the ECHR.\nThe debate of the defense begins.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-05-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240528","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["punishment-request","defense-arguments","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On May 13, 2024, the Leninskiy District Court of Barnaul found Mikhail Reshetnikov, 74, Yuriy Kolotinskiy, 69, and Anatoliy Sarychev, 74, guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization. Judge Lyubov Kurushina gave each of them a 2-year and 3-month suspended sentence.\nThe believers received such punishment for participating in peaceful meetings for worship that are not prohibited by law. They do not agree with the verdict and have the right to appeal it.\nIn May 2021, a special operation codenamed \u0026quot;Armageddon\u0026quot; took place in Barnaul and surrounding cities. One of the searches took place at the home of Mikhail Reshetnikov, a veteran of labor, and a criminal case was initiated against him. In the fall of 2022, new defendants appeared in the case: Yuriy Kolotinskiy, a veteran of labor who has a disability, and Anatoliy Sarychev. Both were added to the Rosfinmonitoring list and placed under a recognizance agreement.\nThroughout the trial, which lasted about a year and a half, the prosecution tried to prove that peaceful believers are dangerous criminals. Anatoliy Sarychev objected to this in his final statement saying that they only made use of \u0026quot;the legal right to freedom of religion provided for in Article 28 of the RF Constitution.\u0026quot; Mikhail Reshetnikov noted: \u0026quot;Your honor, we share the principles from the Word of God with people. Can this really be extremism?\u0026quot; Yuriy Kolotinskiy emphasized: \u0026quot;During the hearings, we listened to the recordings of meetings for worship, which are held peacefully and with dignity. And what is discussed at them can be called extremism prevention.\u0026quot;\nAll the defendants said that during the trial they were supported by friends who came to the courthouse in any weather, greeted and accompanied them with applause at each hearing and encouraged them with warm words.\nAt the moment, 9 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are being prosecuted for their faith in the Altai Territory. Of the 807 believers repressed by Russian law enforcement officers, 215 are over 60.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-05-13T16:31:35+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/05/131631/image_hu_4cc8f8d96b5ada79.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/05/131631/image_hu_2e1b0f1512d044fd.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/05/131631/image_hu_cfb17f7c6b9a95e5.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/05/131631/image_hu_6abc29d8d1b9de82.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/05/131631.html","regions":["altaisky"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["first-instance","282.2-2","elderly","disability","suspended"],"title":"Court Considered Three Pensioners From Barnaul Extremists and Gave Them Suspended Sentences for Their Beliefs","type":"news"},{"body":"The prosecution witness is being questioned via video conferencing. She says that she personally does not know Alexandra Lubina, she has never seen him live. I heard about him from my mother's stories, I saw his photo, but I can't identify him exactly.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-05-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240506","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense file a motion to attach to the materials of the criminal case the written text of the ECHR decision in the case of \"LRO Taganrog and others v. Russia\". The court satisfies the motion, despite the objections of the prosecution, and examines it.\nDefendant Alexander Lubin reads out his written notes. The believer draws attention to the fact that \"the prosecution did not provide a clear explanation as to why it believes that [he] could practice his faith exclusively within the framework of a 'religious association'.\" He also asks: \"Why does the prosecution believe that the constitutional rights of believers and the rights of religious groups were lost for me in April 2017? Why can't I use them now?\"\nThe believer tells the court about his state of health: \"It is difficult for me to walk, and in the event of a fall, I am not able to get up without assistance. Criminal prosecution on trumped-up charges further worsened my already poor health and deprived me of the opportunity to receive full-fledged routine medical care.\"\nLubin also cites a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in the case file, explaining that \"members of a liquidated organization can independently practice religious worship as part of religious groups that do not require registration.\" He concludes: \"In court, we did exactly the opposite—we looked at the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and how they were expressed. And this is not a crime! Therefore, I do not consider myself guilty and do not plead guilty.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-04-25T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240425","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Andrey Kozhushko, Andrey Bannykh and Pavel Loshchinin are charged under the article on organizing the activity of an extremist organization. The ruling states that the believers carried out \"their personal participation in it as religious leaders.\"\nThe document describes each of the defendants: \"Through videoconferencing ... carried out religious meetings for worship, public study and discussion of literature, video recordings and illustrations.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kozhushko and Others in Lesnoy","date":"2024-04-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/lesnoy/index.html#20240419","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["282.2-1","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On visits with his family, Adam Svarichevsky is given the necessary medicines for the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system. He has a group III disability. Letters from relatives arrive several weeks late.\nAdam still spends most of his time in isolation. He is systematically placed in a punishment cell, although he is already in strict conditions of detention. The reason for this is the violations of the internal regime staged by the colony staff.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Olshevskiy and Others in Blagoveshchensk","date":"2024-04-12T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/blagoveshchensk/index.html#20240412","regions":["amur"],"tags":["life-in-prison","strict-conditions","shizo","disability","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court is watching a film about the history of repression of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR, which is in the case file.\nThe defense attaches an epicrisis after Lubin's treatment in the hospital. A petition is also filed to attach to the case file two more medical reports, medical records, discharge reports and ECHR decisions issued in cases of Jehovah's Witnesses. The judge grants the request, except for the admission of medical records.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-03-27T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240327","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"A believer with a group II disability survived the search and ended up in a pre-trial detention center. During the court hearing on the election of a measure of restraint, Vladimir Fomin lost consciousness. The ambulance staff was able to stabilize his condition, and the court decided to send him to a pre-trial detention center.\nVladimir was born on April 23, 1979 in the village of Kamenka, Arkhangelsk Region. He has two younger brothers. Their father was a military officer in the Northern Navy, and their mother served on the same ship as a flight attendant, where they met.\nFrom a young age, Vladimir was fond of science and wrote a science fiction novel when he was in first grade. After school, he graduated from courses in the repair and maintenance of elevators and worked for a long time in his specialty.\nVladimir reflected on physical laws and came to the conclusion that people only discovered them, but someone created them. He wanted to know more about it. Vladimir read the biblical book of Revelation, and he was especially interested in the prophecies written there. In 2000, he embarked on the Christian path.\nAt the age of twenty, Vladimir was seriously injured: he was beaten because of his religious beliefs. Doctors assigned the believer group II disability. He was forbidden to work in his profession, and before the search he worked as a cleaner.\nVladimir moved a lot. With his parents, he lived in the south of Russia, and then in the Leningrad, Tula and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as in Kalmykia. Recently, he has been living in Karachay-Cherkessia, where the climate is best for his health.\nVladimir met his future wife Anna in 2013, at the same time they got married. Anna\u0026#39;s interest in the spiritual arose in childhood. She was worried about the question: why does no one keep the commandments from the Bible? From a friend, Anna learned about the name of God, began to study the Bible and in 2005 decided to take the Christian path.\nAnna works in the field of maintaining cleanliness and order. In his spare time, she likes to do needlework, listen to music, write poetry and cook. Vladimir likes to learn about space. He is also interested in new developments in the field of electronic technology. Together, the couple love hiking.\nVladimir\u0026#39;s relatives, who are not Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses, are outraged by the unfair criminal prosecution and the fact that a decent and law-abiding person with serious health problems was sent to jail.\n","date":"2024-04-04","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/fomin/photo_hu_36a1704795e0353d.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/fomin/photo_hu_341e600142449fea.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/fomin/photo_hu_1f7e59245a7623a5.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/fomin/photo_hu_5d9c9839cedb8376.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/fomin.html","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["disability","hate-crime"],"title":"Vladimir Fomin","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Rustam Atayev, judge of the Cherkessk City Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, orders Vladimir Fomin's detention until May 21, 2024, despite the fact that the defense asks to soften the measure of restraint for house arrest, linking this to the state of health of the defendant - right at the hearing, the believer loses consciousness, he is provided with emergency medical care.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Fomin in Cherkessk","date":"2024-03-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/cherkessk4/index.html#20240323","regions":["karachaevo"],"tags":["sizo","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On March 21, 2024, Vladimir Fomin, 44, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses with a disability, was sent to a temporary detention facility in Cherkessk. A criminal case has been initiated against him under two articles for extremism. During the hearing regarding preventive measure, he lost consciousness and an ambulance had to be called.\nA month earlier, on February 21, the home of Vladimir Fomin and his wife was searched. Electronic devices and data carriers were seized from them.\nThe believer is charged with participating in the activity of an extremist organization and involving other persons in it. The case was initiated by Aslan Shabanov, senior investigator of the Cherkessk Investigative Committee. On March 23, the Cherkessk City Court imposed pre-trial detention on Fomin.\nThe reason for initiating the criminal case against Fomin was an incident related to the case of Menchikova, a resident of Cherkessk who earlier had been convicted for her faith. The charges against Vladimir were based on conversations about the Bible with a woman, which the investigation deemed to be involving others in the activity of a banned organization.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2024-03-21T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/handcuffs_hu_4c19bccc616a0461.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/handcuffs_hu_e7ed3c04c528ed3b.jpg","webp":"/news/common/handcuffs_hu_e58593e77498609.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/handcuffs_hu_3097a2541128b86e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/03/280841.html","regions":["karachaevo"],"subtitle":"He Was Placed in a Detention Center","tags":["new-case","sizo","search","282.2-2","282.2-1.1","disability","interrogation"],"title":"A Criminal Case Initiated in Cherkessk Against Vladimir Fomin who Has a Disability.","type":"news"},{"body":"A. Grigoriev, investigator for particularly important cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Yaroslavl Region, terminates the case against the believers and withdraws their recognizance not to leave. The ruling states: \"The investigation believes that the actions of E. I. Samoylova, O. V. Golovacheva, D. V. Lebedev and M. V. Ovchinnikov do not contain signs of a crime under part 2 of article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.\"\nIn addition, the very fact of participation of believers in the activities of the local religious organization \"Jehovah's Witnesses\" in the city of Rybinsk has not been reliably established. According to the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 28.06.2011 No. 11, to which the investigator refers, participation in the activities of an extremist organization is understood as \"the commission by a person of intentional actions directly related to the continuation or renewal of the activities of this organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"The case of Samoilova and Others in Rybinsk","date":"2024-03-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/rybinsk/index.html#20240320","regions":["yaroslavl"],"tags":["case-dismissed","282.2-2","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Pavel Brilkov, one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses from Prokopyevsk, will serve a 2-year suspended sentence for his faith based on the March 12, 2024 decision of the Kemerovo Regional Court. Two months earlier, a lower court had sentenced him to 2 years and 10 months of forced labor, despite his disability and retirement age.\nAddressing the appeal panel, Brilkov said that he considers the case fabricated, and himself innocent. \u0026quot;My conscience is calm because I have not violated either the Criminal Code or the law of God \u0026ndash; my actions have not caused any harm to anyone,\u0026quot; he said in his final statement.\nThe criminal prosecution of Brilkov began in March 2023. Until the verdict was passed, he was under a recognizance agreement.\nIn the Kemerovo Region, 18 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses are being prosecuted, including three women.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-03-12T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/03/131340/image_hu_412fa964d25f15fc.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/03/131340/image_hu_2256679fd8c3944.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/03/131340/image_hu_69ec8793bf48fff4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/03/131340/image_hu_6ab63637bbf884c7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/03/131340.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":"In Kemerovo, The Court of Appeal Changed the Sentence of a Pensioner","tags":["appeal","282.2-2","labor","suspended","elderly","disability","rosfinmonitoring"],"title":"Two Years Suspended Instead of Three Years of Forced Labor for Reading the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"Investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation V. I. Danilin initiates a criminal case against Irina Ushakova for the fact that the believer \"participated in the discussion of the content of the religious books of Jehovah's Witnesses, including the so-called 'Holy Scripture' (the Bible).\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ushakova in Vyselki","date":"2024-02-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki11/index.html#20240215","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-2","families","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Aleksandr Gaitur is a third-generation Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witness. He was born and raised in Siberia, where his parents were exiled in 1949 along with their families from the Moldavian SSR for being Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. In 1989, the Gaitur family was rehabilitated, having received the status of victims of political repression. But 34 years later, Aleksandr faced criminal prosecution for his faith. Sometime later, the believer became seriously ill. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and classified as having a disability.\nHe was born in 1962 in the village of Voroshilovo (Kurgan region). By this time, the family already had a son and a daughter. Later, Aleksandr had another brother and sister.\nAs a child, the boy was fond of sports and fishing. In 1969, the family was allowed to return to Moldova. There, Aleksandr graduated from a construction school with a degree in carpentry. At the same time, he studied at the Kishinev football school and for some time played in the youth national football team of the MSSR. He also played for district teams in hockey, basketball and volleyball.\nAleksandr has worked as a builder all his life. In the early 1980s, he moved to Kurgan for work, and later settled in the village of Novoberyozovo, Petukhov district. In 1989, Aleksandr met his future wife Svetlana, and in 1992 they got married. The following year, they embarked on the Christian path. \u0026quot;I have always considered myself one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses,\u0026quot; recalls Aleksandr. \u0026quot;I was attracted to the truth by the example of my parents: serving God was the main goal of their lives, and they tried to instill in us, children, love for God and neighbors. I have also always been amazed at the accuracy of Bible prophecy fulfillment.\u0026quot;\nThe couple raised three children, they already have three grandchildren. Recently, Aleksandr has been fond of fishing and beekeeping. Svetlana is a housewife, she likes to garden, run a farm in which there are chickens and a goat.\nThe criminal prosecution of Aleksandr had a negative impact on the life of his family. \u0026quot;I started having problems with my work, several clients refused my services,\u0026quot; the believer said. The search and interrogation were stressful for his wife and 86-year-old mother. What was happening to Aleksandr made her remember the severity of the repression that she herself had to endure many years ago. She wonders: \u0026quot;Why, after the rehabilitation of our family, do my children and grandchildren have to face persecution again?\u0026quot;\nNumerous relatives of Aleksandr and Svetlana worry about them and consider the criminal case against the believer unfair.\n","date":"2024-03-21","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/gaytur/photo_hu_52aaccc764f3e6ef.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/gaytur/photo_hu_c69626639d6d8a02.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/gaytur/photo_hu_ce98a598b0ecd8c3.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/gaytur/photo_hu_29697ea3c84bf694.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/gaytur.html","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["ussr-repression","elderly","families","disability","descendants-repressed"],"title":"Aleksandr Gaytur","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"On February 8, 2024, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court considered the case of Aleksandr Pryanikov and Venera and Daria Dulova for the fourth time. Now the court of appeal has upheld the suspended sentences for Aleksandr and Venera (2.5 and 2 years, respectively) and released Darya from criminal liability.\nThe court explained its decision by the fact that during the period of allegeed guilt, Darya Dulova was 17 years old, and in this case the statute of limitations is 5 years (Article 78 of the RfCrC). It expired in June 2023. The appeals of the defendants and the ruling of the prosecutor were denied by the panel of judges. The believers do not agree with the verdict and deny being guilty of extremism.\nIn 4.5 years, three verdicts were passed in the case of the believers from Karpinsk: two guilty and one acquittal. The court of first instance considered the case twice, the court of appeal four times, and the court of cassation twice. The trial even went before the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Since 2021, another case against the Dulovs and Pryanikov is being considered in court, also on charges of extremism.\nThe European Court of Human Rights recognized that the prosecution of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia is unlawful and ruled in their favor in June 2022.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-02-08T14:06:28+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/02/091406/image_hu_2f02ae2e5c930b93.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/02/091406/image_hu_946ed035aace4567.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/02/091406/image_hu_541570dc579115f0.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/02/091406/image_hu_98eeabd08466b0a.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/02/091406.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":"The Verdict Against the Remaining Defendants in the Case Entered into Force","tags":["retrial","282.2-2","suspended","disability"],"title":"Darya Dulova Was Released from Criminal Liability due to the Expiration of the Statute of Limitations After the Fourth Appeal Hearing.","type":"news"},{"body":"Publications published by Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as books by Russian religious scholars Nikolai Gordienko, Mikhail Odintsov and Sergey Ivanenko, are examined.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-02-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240208","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The court attaches to the case file medical documents on the health of Yevgeniy Bochko, confirming a valid reason for his absence at the two previous hearings. Alexei Shubnikov's certificate on the limitation of physical activity due to his disability is also attached. He requested the adjournment of meetings due to outpatient treatment.\n","caseTitle":"The case of Ushakov and Others in Vyselki","date":"2024-02-07T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki/index.html#20240207","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Investigative Committee is conducting searches in the apartments of both believers. Alexander Krushevsky's investigative actions are led by I. Y. Nenko, Anatoly Artamonov's — senior investigator D. V. Emelianenko. Later, Krushevsky was taken to the Investigative Committee and interrogated. The believer explains to the investigator that he is a person with hearing disability of group III.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Krushevskiy and Artamonov in Birobidzhan","date":"2024-02-06T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan21/index.html#20240206","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["search","interrogation","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Judge of the Birobidzhan District Court Olga Klyuchikova, who previously handed down guilty verdicts in three cases of Jehovah's Witnesses, allows searches of 71-year-old Anatoly Artamonov and 45-year-old Aleksandr Krushevskiy. Both men are hard of hearing.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Krushevskiy and Artamonov in Birobidzhan","date":"2024-02-05T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/birobidzhan21/index.html#20240205","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["search","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Yelena Menchikova, 59, was again found guilty - on January 23, 2024, Nauruz Shukurov, judge of the Cherkessk City Court, gave the woman with a disability a 4.5-year suspended sentence with a probation period of 2.5 years because of her religion.\nAs Yelena said in court, the charges boil down to the fact that she invited friends \u0026quot;to study the Holy Scriptures (Bible), ingluding singing songs together, praying, and studying religious articles.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;I never imagined that in the Caucasus hospitality would turn out to be such a grave crime and that if would lead to punishment,\u0026quot; the believer said. However, the indictment does not contain a specific description of how, when and under what circumstances Menchikova expressed extremism.\nYelena Menchikova in the courtroom. January 24, 2024 The prosecution of Yelena on religious grounds has been going on since December 2019. The first verdict — a 5-year suspended sentence and legal costs — was handed down to her in December 2021. Two months later, the court of appeal released her from paying court costs, and later the court of cassation sent the case for a new trial.\nIn Karachay-Cherkessia, four more of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses have been prosecuted, and two of them have already received sentences for their faith. The world community calls on the Russian authorities \u0026quot;to drop charges and release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, as well as the right to peaceful assembly and association.\u0026quot;\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-01-23T16:27:11+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/01/241627/image_hu_340309037787cd11.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/01/241627/image_hu_744319c376fdc108.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/01/241627/image_hu_956b8687dda7f8f9.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/01/241627/image_hu_bc2ba5efb675ec84.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/01/241627.html","regions":["karachaevo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","282.2-2","282.2-1.1","retrial","suspended"],"title":"Court in Cherkessk Reviewed Yelena Menchikova's Case and Again Found Her Guilty of Extremism for Talking About the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"Every day in the colony is not easy for a believer: he experiences headaches, stiffness and pain in the joints, especially when it gets cold in the barracks. This makes it difficult for Vlasov to go to the canteen, and he is grateful for the help of other prisoners who help him buy groceries at a local store.\nThe administration allows Vlasov to visit doctors - for a month and a half he visited a traumatologist, a neurologist, a rheumatologist and a radiologist. Thanks to his wife and friends, from whom he regularly receives letters of support, the believer does not lose heart.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vlasov in Prokopyevsk","date":"2024-01-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopevsk/index.html#20240120","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","disability","prison-treatment"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense reads out a number of materials, including a motion to terminate the criminal case.\nThe lawyer draws attention to the state of health of Aleksandr Lubin, who needs medical care.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-01-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240115","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On January 15, 2024, Alena Novoselova, judge of the Central District Court of Prokopyevsk, found Pavel Brilkov, 65, who has a disability, guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization and sentenced him to 2 years and 10 months of forced labor only because of his faith.\nIn November 2021, the home of Pavel Brilkov and his wife was searched as part of the case of Andrey Vlasov, a disabled person who is serving a sentence in a penal colony for his faith. In March 2023, Brilkov himself became a defendant in a criminal case. Testimony against the believer was given by two men recruited by the FSB, one of whom once talked with Pavel about the Bible, and a second, who said that he saw the believer at a meeting for worship.\nPavel Brilkov with his wife and friends on the day of the verdict The case went to court at the end of April 2023. Brilkov pleaded not guilty. In his final statement, he said: \u0026quot;My faith in God is based on love, not hatred or extremism. What danger do I pose to the public? Who have I harmed? Where are the people or families who have suffered through my fault? What irreparable damage have I done to our country? Are conversations on topics such as family happiness, consolation for those who mourn, or the future earthly paradise so dangerous that a person is tried under a serious article and can be thrown into prison? \u0026quot; Despite, the age and disability of the defendant, the prosecutor requested the court to impose 3 years of forced labor. The convicted person intends to appeal the verdict.\nEarlier, Judge Novoselova convicted another Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witness from Prokopyevsk, Yuriy Chernykh. He, like Brilkov, was a witness in the case of Andrey Vlasov. The Tsentralnyi District Court of Prokopyevsk is also hearing the case of Yuriy Chernykh\u0026#39;s wife, Yelena. A total of 18 believers are facing criminal prosecution for their faith in the Kemerovo Region.\nThe August 2022 ECHR ruling in favor of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in Russia notes that believers have the right to practice their religion \u0026quot;individually or in community with others\u0026quot; and this right \u0026quot;has always been considered an integral part of freedom of religion\u0026quot; (§ 268).\n","category":"verdict","date":"2024-01-15T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2024/01/120859/image_hu_20bd36da55c8bb5e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2024/01/120859/image_hu_8d42d695bd28a0b8.jpg","webp":"/news/2024/01/120859/image_hu_ce999ab838ef5e31.webp","webp2x":"/news/2024/01/120859/image_hu_4580668e9f02bc72.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2024/01/120859.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":"Pavel Brilkov Received 2 Years and 10 Months of Forced Labor for Talking About the Bible","tags":["sentence","disability","282.2-2","elderly","labor"],"title":"Court in the Kemerovo Region Sentenced Yet Another Jehovah's Witness.","type":"news"},{"body":"At the court session, the defense announces the evidence in the case contained in 24 volumes.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2024-01-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20240111","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In 2023, the number of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses criminally prosecuted for their faith reached almost 800, and the number of searches exceeded 2,000. Cases are fabricated against the elderly, women and the disabled. More than a quarter of all prosecuted are persons over 60 years of age. By the end of the year, there were already six Jehovah’s Witness women in penal colonies. The tendency to prosecute entire families has increased. The length of imprisonment requested by prosecutors has reached 10 years. Statistics and details are included in this article. The Year in Numbers As of December 25, 2023, the total number of homes of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses searched is 2,058. In 2023, law enforcement officers raided 183 addresses, 43 people were detained, 15 of whom have been or are still in pretrial detention. During the year, Russian courts issued rulings regarding 147 Jehovah’s Witnesses, 47 of whom were sentenced to imprisonment for a cumulative term of more than 257 years (the previous year 44 people were sentenced to a cumulative term of 244 years in penal colonies). Thirty-three people received sentences in penal colonies of 6 years or more. Of these, the longest term of 8 years in a penal colony was given to Dmitriy Barmakin, whose story will be discussed below. On December 22, 2023, the court sentenced Aleksandr Rumyantsev from Moscow to 7.5 years in penal colony (Sean Pike, a citizen of Guyana, and Eduard Sviridov from Moscow, are in the same case and were sentenced to 7 and 6.5 years in a penal colony, respectively). Astrakhan residents Rinat Kiramov, Sergey Korolev and Sergey Kosyanenko, as well as Aleksandr Skvortsov from Taganrog and Evgeniy Bushev from Chelyabinsk received 7 years of imprisonment. In the Bushev case, it took the court just five sessions to conclude that talking about a Bible topic is such a serious crime. Later, it turned out that an officer of the National Guard had participated in the conversation, pretending to be interested in the Bible. On December 19, 2023, a court in Novosibirsk sentenced Marina Chaplykina to 4 years in a penal colony. She became the sixth woman from among Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses to receive a prison sentence for their faith.\nEight of Jehovah’s Witnesses were released from prison this past year. Seventy-nine people remain in penal colonies.\n\"The believers trials do not end with being released from the penal colony,\" explains Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses. \"The believers continue to serve additional punishments. For example, during a period appointed by the court, they cannot leave their place of residence. An electronic tracking bracelet is put on the ankle of some for many months, by which the authorities track the location of the person. This device must not be removed. After serving their sentences many are forbidden from working in certain areas, such as education.\"\nThe total number of criminal cases initiated against believers since 2017 has reached 376. The defendants amount to 789 people; 444 believers were convicted, 141 of whom received imprisonment. In all cases, there are no victims, actual crimes or evidence of illegal actions. The cases are initiated for ordinary religious activities: praying, reading the Bible, singing religious songs, etc. Most of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who are prosecuted for their faith are included in the list of extremists and terrorists maintained by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring). The state imposes a number of serious economic restrictions on those who are listed on it; for example, their bank accounts are blocked, which makes it difficult to receive salaries, pensions and complete other transactions. At the time of publication of this article, there are 521 believers on the list, 72 of whom were added to the list in 2023.\nTerms are Breaking Records In Magadan, the case of 13 believers, including Ivan Puyda, the son and grandson of Jehovah’s Witnesses who had been repressed under Soviet rule, reached its conclusion. Now he too could receive a lengthy sentence – 10 years. That is how much the prosecutor requested in the closing arguments on November 24, 2023.\nIf Puyda gets 10 years in prison, it will be a unprecedented record in the cases of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses. Currently, the maximum term in a penal colony is 8 years, and five believers are serving this: Aleksey Berchuk, Rustam Diarov, Yevgeniy Ivanov and Sergey Klikunov.\nOn December 4, 2023, in Irkutsk, the prosecutor requested terms ranging from 3 to 7 years for a group of nine Jehovah’s Witnesses, the longest for Yaroslav Kalin, Nikolay Martynov, Aleksey Solnechny and Sergey Kosteyev. Yaroslav Kalin also comes from a family of those repressed for their faith. Kalin’s lawyer said: \"My client is being tried for the same thing for which his parents were exiled to Siberia, more than 70 years ago.\" Ironically, Kalin’s parents have been officially exonerated, but their son is now being tried for the same \"crime\".\nNew Regions In 2023, the territory affected by prosecutions has expanded. In February, the first searches in the Leningrad Region took place in the cities of Kingisepp and Slantsy, five people were detained and a criminal case was initiated. On April 4, 2023, searches were carried out for the first time in St. Petersburg.\nAt the end of February, searches in at least three addresses took place in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. Kishta Tutinova, 62, was detained, and after 2 days behind bars she was placed under house arrest.\nIn total, Jehovah’s Witnesses are already being prosecuted in 74 regions of the Russian Federation.\nVladimir Piskarev, Vladimir Melnik and Artur Putintsev were kept in a cage during their trial in Oryol Aleksandr Skortsov and Valeriy Tibiy did not lose heart despite unjust prosecution Konstantin Sannikov in the so-called \u0026#34;aquarium\u0026#34; — an enclosure where usually especially dangerous criminals are held during the trial During the announcement of the verdict, the bailiff handcuffs the seriously ill Vladimir Balabkin Sergey Klimov with his wife immediately after his release from the penal colony Defendants in the case of Tchaikovsky and others in Moscow are taken into custody after the verdict is announced Aleksandr Nikolayev with his wife and daughters after his release from the penal colony Convicted residents of Gukovo communicate via video call from the pretrial detention center with the group of supporters that came to the cassation hearing On the day of Yuriy Savelyev’s release from the penal colony, he was met by a large group of supporters Rustam Seidkuliev’s wife and friends are taking pictures with him after his release from the penal colony in Saratov From left to right: Sergey Kosyanenko, Rinat Kiramov and Sergey Korolev behind bars in the courtroom Muscovites Anatoliy Marunov, Sergey Tolokonnikov and Roman Mareyev were sentenced to long terms for their faith In Surgut, friends came to the courthouse to support their convicted fellow believers, on the day of the verdict. Outdoor temperature was -29°C Marina married Sergey Shulyarenko, convicted for his faith, right in the penal colony Prosecution of the Elderly and Disabled Almost 26% of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses who have been prosecuted for their faith since 2017 (205 people) are over 60 years old. Criminal cases were initiated against 17 believers in this category in 2023. The oldest of them is 85 years old (the youngest is 19 years old).\nLaw enforcement officers and judges are not troubled by the age, serious illnesses or disabilities of those they accuse. So, on September 13 of this year, a court in the Amur Region sentenced Vladimir Balabkin, 71, suffering from cancer, to 4 years in a penal colony (the prosecutor had requested 2.5 times longer). Immediately after the verdict, he was taken into custody. About three months later, on December 19, 2023, the court of appeal replaced the sentence with a a 1-year suspended sentence, and the believer was released.\nOn September 14, 2023, the Maykop City Court sent 68-year-old Nikolay Voishchev to a penal colony. Even before his arrest, he was diagnosed with a tumor that required immediate treatment. While in prison he is not receiving the adequate medical care he still needs.\nIn the Novosibirsk Region, Andrey Vlasov, a 54-year-old disabled person, continues to serve his sentence for his faith. He suffers from serious illnesses, including deforming arthrosis of both hip joints, which makes it impossible for him to take care of himself. But both the court of appeal and the court of cassation upheld the guilty verdict.\nRepression of Entire Families By the end of the year, more than 70 families in 35 regions of the Russian Federation had become easy prey for law enforcement officers, for whom this is often an easy way to improve their performance and move up the career ladder. In some cases, the husband and wife were sent to prison at the same time, for example, Yelena and Georgiy Nikulin from Saransk. Both received more than 4 years in a penal colony.\n\"Other family members who are not under investigation are also subjected to direct or indirect pressure. After the searches, the security forces interrogate them, threaten to imprison them or a relative if they do not begin to give the investigation the testimony requested against their relative and fellow believers. Simply put, they are invited to become secret agents, to conduct covert audio and video recordings of how believers discuss Bible teachings, pray and sing religious songs together, in order to later call it \"the activity of a banned religious organization,\" says Yaroslav Sivulskiy. \"Another form of indirect pressure on relatives is denying visits to imprisoned family members.\"\nReversal of Acquittals One of the significant trends of 2023 was canceling the acquittals of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This happened on July 6, 2023, with the case of Aleksandr Pryanikov and Venera and Darya Dulova; the case reached the Supreme Court, which overturned the acquittal, although before that the Sverdlovsk Regional Court had twice overturned the guilty verdicts.\nIn the case of Ivan Sorokin and Andrey Zhukov in Yugorsk, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, the acquittal was overturned on November 20, 2023.\nDmitriy Barmakin from Vladivostok became the first Russian Jehovah’s Witness to be acquitted in a criminal case for his faith on November 22, 2021. This decision lasted only until April 27, 2023, when the same court, the Pervorechensky District Court of Vladivostok, sentenced the believer to 8 years in a penal colony. However, later, on August 8, 2023, the Primorsky Regional Court overturned this decision and sent the case for review.\nAleksey Khabarov from Porkhov, Pskov Region, who was initially acquitted, was sentenced at the third trial on October 25, 2023, to 2 years and 6 months in a penal colony. The court of appeal reduced the term by only 2 months.\nThe Supreme Court Does Not Comply With Its Own Judgement It seems paradoxical that acquittals of Jehovah’s Witnesses are consistently overturned by the Supreme Court, whose position is that meeting for worship in itself cannot be considered a crime (in the cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses, this is the only corpus delicti). On October 28, 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court published a ruling stating: \"If a court adopts a decision, which enters into force, to liquidate or ban the activity of a public or religious association or other organization regarding extremist activity, subsequent actions of persons that are not related to the continuation or resumption of the activity of the relevant extremist organization and consist solely in exercising their right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, including through individual or joint practice of religion, meetings for worship or other religious rites and ceremonies, in themselves, if they do not contain signs of extremism, do not constitute a crime\" (emphasis added).\nHowever, in practice, some judges of the Supreme Court do not consider it necessary to follow this position. They simply repeat the prosecution’s narrative that any collective practice of worship by Jehovah’s Witnesses is \"extremist.\"\nIn total, the Supreme Court has already overturned two acquittals of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In addition to the above-mentioned case of Pryanikov and the Dulovs, a similar decision was made on December 15, 2022 in the case of the Bazhenovs and Vera Zolotova.\nJudgments of the European Court of Human Rights On January 31, 2023, the European Court of Human Rights considered seven applications by Jehovah’s Witnesses from Russia relating to events from 2010 to 2014. In all of them, the court sided with the applicants and ordered Russia to pay compensation in the amount of 345,773 euros and another 5,000 euros as legal costs.\nThis is the second judgement of the ECHR in the case of Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses in the last 2 years. In the summer of 2022, the ECHR also exonerated believers in a larger lawsuit related to the illegal liquidation of all legal entities of the Witnesses and the seizure of their property. The total amount of compensation under this decision exceeds 63 million euros.\nAlas, so far the decisions of the ECHR have no visible impact on the practice of the Russian law enforcement system. The Russian authorities are in no hurry to pay compensation to exonerated believers, and continue to sentence them to long prison terms.\nExactly on the day of the decision of the ECHR, June 7, 2022, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted laws under an accelerated procedure, according to which ECHR judgments issued after March 15, 2022 are not enforceable in Russia.\n\u0026quot;The Case of the Eighteen\u0026quot; in Surgut: Faith is a Crime, Torture is Heroism In 2023, a high-profile case in Surgut approached its conclusion, which received wide publicity because the believers were tortured. The case against 18 men and one woman from Surgut, including a man whom the investigation mistakenly mistook for one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, has been dragging on since February 2019. Seven defendants went through severe torture during interrogation, and one of them, Timofey Zhukov, was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital and later obtained compensation for this. The torture in Surgut was widely covered in the Russian media; the believers met with the Human Rights Ombudsman for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region and employees of the offices of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation and conferences were held with the participation of human rights defenders.\nIn November 2023, the prosecutor requested harsh terms for the believers \u0026ndash; up to 9.5 years in a penal colony (for Sergey Loginov). On December 5, 2023, all the defendants in the Surgut case were given suspended sentences ranging from 4 to 7 years. Sergey Loginov and Timofey Zhukov were given the longest sentences of 7 years.\nAt the same time, not a single criminal case has been initiated for the torture of the believers. Moreover, later the head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee, where Jehovah’s Witnesses were tortured, Vladimir Yermolaev and his subordinate Sergey Bogoderov received awards, and the soldiers of the National Guard of Russia who participated in the operation were rewarded.\n\"Have They Succeeded in Intimidating Jehovah’s Witnesses?\" Sergei Ivanenko, Ph.D. in Philosophy, a religious scholar who attended as an expert at 14 judicial trials against Jehovah’s Witnesses in different regions of Russia, writes his impressions in his book \"The People Who Are Steadfast in Persecution\" published in 2023: \"Jehovah’s Witnesses... consider it their religious responsibility to preach Christianity to law enforcement officials, judges, and also to prisoners... Have they succeeded in intimidating Jehovah’s Witnesses? No, they have not. They continue to preach, to help each other, and to support prisoners of conscience. According to the believers, persecution strengthens their faith in Jehovah, and strong faith brings inner peace... Those who know the history of Jehovah's Witnesses understand that they have endured the most severe persecution and have not forsaken their faith. Nor does persecution in today's Russia frighten them.\"\n","category":"analytics","date":"2023-12-27T13:08:20+02:00","duration":"1:56","image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_8ce5188d4fbb9f2c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_7d61162a90e88d55.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_c30bde6a69fa6960.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/12/271308/image2_hu_7cb627d2f70ce16.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/12/271308.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","elderly","disability","video","rosfinmonitoring","medical-rights","siloviks-violence","torture","international","supreme-court","echr","expert-conclusions","fabrications","analytics","descendants-repressed"],"title":"Jehovah’s Witnesses Under the Yoke of Repression — 2023 Overview","type":"video"},{"body":"The volumes of the case are examined. At the request of the prosecutor, the court decides to announce some of the materials from them at a closed court session.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2023-12-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20231221","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On December 8, 2023, the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan upheld the verdict against Stanislav Klyuchnikov, Dmitriy Yarchak and Denis Filatov. The decision has entered into force; the convicted persons have the right to appeal in the court of cassation.\nThe believers drew attention to the fact that they were found guilty of extremism on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Court of April 20, 2017, but this decision was not a ban on a religious denomination with its inherent teachings, spiritual terminology, the arrangements for meetings for worship and the dissemination of religious beliefs.\nIn his final statement before the court of appeal, Dmitry Yarchak emphasized: \u0026quot;I am in the dock not for murder, not for theft, not for some evil deeds, but for being a disciple of Jesus.\u0026quot; Yarchak has been disabled since childhood; participating in investigative actions and the trial is not easy for him. However, he does not lose courage. \u0026quot;Of course, my physical and emotional health has been shaken, but my faith has become stronger,\u0026quot; he said in court.\nStanislav Klyuchnikov noted: \u0026quot;How can people who adhere to the rules or principles written in the Bible be dangerous to the state and society and be called \u0026#39;extremists\u0026#39;?\u0026quot; He also drew the court\u0026#39;s attention to the fact that his faith in Jehovah God helped him break with an antisocial group and become a useful member of society: \u0026quot;In fact, I was a danger to society before I became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in 1998.\u0026quot;\nThe defendants are among 13 Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses from Tatarstan who have been prosecuted for their beliefs.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-12-11T16:25:45+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/12/111625/image_hu_687b0a24306c97d8.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/12/111625/image_hu_77dae4f8df8f812d.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/12/111625/image_hu_18ebca82eddec01.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/12/111625/image_hu_9b8391970acbf48f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/12/111625.html","regions":["tatarstan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","suspended","disability","282.2-1"],"title":"Supreme Court of Tatarstan Upholds the Sentence Against Three Jehovah's Witnesses from Nizhnekamsk — 6 Years Suspended","type":"news"},{"body":"On November 16, 2023, searches were carried out at no less than at 6 addresses in Saratov. They affected at least 13 believers. Aleksey Vasilyev, 47, and Aleksey Yefremov, 59, were placed in a temporary detention facility, and a day later they were placed under house arrest.\nThe investigative actions were sanctioned by the Volzhsky District Court of Saratov on November 9, 2023, at the request of investigator Bulat Urazov. The raids began around 6 a. m. and lasted on average until noon. The security forces seized electronic devices, storage media, personal notes and greeting cards. The RF internal passport was also seized from one of the believers.\nAfter the searches, all of the believers were interrogated at the local office of the Investigative Committee. Among them are a woman with a disability and a man, 64, suffering from heart disease, who felt ill during the interrogation. Despite this, he was kept at the investigative office for the longest time.\nThe criminal case on the basis of which the searches were carried out was initiated on October 31, 2023, under Article 282.2(2) of the RF CrC (participating in the activity of an extremist organization).\nIn the Saratov Region, 12 Jehovah's Witnesses have already become defendants in criminal cases for their faith in God: seven of them have served time in penal colonies, the other five men are defending their right in court to practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nRussian human rights activists and the world community condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The ECHR found these prosecutions groundless and unlawful.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2023-11-16T14:55:09+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/11/221455/image_hu_99dc544cbd75a2d2.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/11/221455/image.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/11/221455/image_hu_ab1029e1ee3e46bf.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/11/221455/image_hu_eaa0dc106b024473.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/11/221455.html","regions":["saratov"],"subtitle":"Two believers under house arrest","tags":["search","interrogation","ivs","house-arrest","elderly","disability","new-case","282.2-2"],"title":"In Saratov, searches were carried out at the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses.","type":"news"},{"body":"The Seventh Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Chelyabinsk cancels the decision of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court to return the criminal case to the prosecutor and sends the case for a new appeal to the same court with a different composition. Thus, the court refuses to satisfy the prosecutor's request to change the territorial jurisdiction, that is, to send the case for a new appeal to another court in the territory of the Seventh Court of Cassation.\nThe prosecutor sought to transfer the case to a court on the territory of another subject of the Russian Federation. According to the state prosecutor, \"there are circumstances that cast doubt on the objectivity and impartiality of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court.\" However, the cassation court considers the prosecution's arguments insufficient.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Prianikov and Others in Karpinsk","date":"2023-11-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/karpinsk/index.html#20231108","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["retrial","disability","families"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On October 16, 2023, the Ninth General Jurisdiction Court of Cassation upheld the verdict against believers from Spassk-Dalniy. Dmitriy Malevaniy, Aleksey Trofimov, and Olga Panyuta will continue to serve their sentences in the penal colony, and Olga Opaleva will continue to serve a suspended sentence.\nAll four believe that they were convicted simply because they are Jehovah's Witnesses. The court sentenced Malevaniy, Trofimov and Panyuta from 4.5 to 7 years in a penal colony. Opaleva, who suffered a stroke during the trial, received a 5-year suspended sentence. Later, the court of appeal reduced the sentence insignificantly.\nBack in 2018, the RF Government, in response to the demands of the UN Human Rights Council, expressed its official position regarding Jehovah's Witnesses: \"The ban on the activity of the organization 'Jehovah’s Witnesses' does not in itself restrict the right to freedom of religion of its supporters, who still have the right to practice their religious rites, provided that the form of such practice does not contradict the norms of Russian legislation.\" Despite this, believers across the country continue to be found guilty of extremism for peaceful religious practices.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-10-16T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/10/170943/image_hu_7f156bbc5841a3ae.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/10/170943/image_hu_3b24dc51ebd7d2b8.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/10/170943/image_hu_60e8a8fe2ca6c450.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/10/170943/image_hu_95ff6c77bafc846b.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/10/170943.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["cassation","282.2-1","282.2-1.1","disability","elderly"],"title":"Court of Cassation Upheld the Sentence Against Four Jehovah's Witnesses from Primorye Territory for Their Faith, Including a Disabled Woman","type":"news"},{"body":"On October 16, 2023, Stanislav Bobrovsky, judge of the Zheleznovodsk City Court of the Stavropol Territory, found Zinaida Minenko guilty of extremism and sentenced her to a fine of 330,000 rubles. According to the judge, the elderly believer broke the law when she talked to people about the Bible.\nThe criminal prosecution of the believer began in November 2021 on the initiative of Pavel Gogolin, investigator of the Investigative Committee. Her home and the homes of several other Jehovah's Witnesses were searched. The pensioner was also taken to a search of her garage without being given the opportunity to eat or drink water, and then interrogated for 4 hours. As a result, she required emergency medical attention.\nLater it became clear that the investigation deemed Zinaida's conversations with people about God to be involving others in the activity of an extremist organization. These conversations were secretly recorded. After 4 months of investigation, the case was sent to court. The charges were based on hidden audio recordings, as well as the testimony of two secret witnesses. One of them admitted that she herself had come to the defendant to discuss the Bible. According to her, Zinaida never encouraged her to hate, but, on the contrary, taught her to treat people with love. Other witnesses for the prosecution admitted in court that they had testified on the basis of rumors and assumptions, and could only confirm that Minenko was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. The prosecution also presented to the court an expert study of audio recordings of meetings for worship and her personal conversations on Bible topics. However, the defense drew the court's attention to the substitution of legal with religious concepts in the study.\nZinaida Minenko has severe visual impairment and loss of hearing. She has lived alone ever since she was widowed in January 2020. The believer expressed that due to the prosecution by the authorities her emotional and physical health deteriorated. Despite her age and state of health, as well as the lack of evidence of guilt, the prosecutor requested a 5-year suspended sentence for her.\nIn her final statement, Zinaida said: \"I never thought that I would sit in the dock at the age of 83, nevermind, charged for extremism. [...] Once again, I want to emphasize that the purpose of my conversations with people was a sincere desire to share Bible hope with them; I spoke only with those people who themselves wanted to talk to me, I did not force anyone, and how could I force someone at my age. I genuinely don't understand how Bible advice could be extremist.\"\nApart from Zinaida Minenko, 12 other Jehovah's Witnesses 80 years of age or older, have faced criminal prosecution for their faith. Six of them have received suspended sentences.\nThe RF Supreme Court did not ban the activity of Jehovah's Witnesses as a religious denomination and did not deprive believers of the right to practice their religion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation admitted that the Supreme Court \"did not assess either the legality of the religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses or the ways in which they are expressed.\"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-10-16T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/10/180822/image_hu_f60a6107682a9d0a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/10/180822/image_hu_d8e3e248aca3f0d5.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/10/180822/image_hu_b95be4e88ef1931a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/10/180822/image_hu_d4d8ddae7941b182.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/10/180822.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":"Court in Stavropol Territory Convicted 83-Year-Old Widow with a Disability","tags":["sentence","elderly","disability","282.2-1.1","fine"],"title":"Fine for Talking About the Bible.","type":"news"},{"body":"The prosecutor requests for 83-year-old Zinaida Minenko a sentence of 5 years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 5 years and restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year.\nAbout 55 people gather outside the courthouse, 10 of them are allowed into the courtroom.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Minenko in Zheleznovodsk","date":"2023-10-04T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zheleznovodsk/index.html#20231004","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["elderly","disability","punishment-request","defense-arguments"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"","caseTitle":"The Case of Minenko in Zheleznovodsk","date":"2023-09-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/zheleznovodsk/index.html#20230911","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["elderly","disability","first-instance"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 5, 2023, Sergey Kamenov, judge of the Nizhnekamsk City Court of the Republic of Tatarstan gave a 6-year suspended sentence to Denis Filatov, Stanislav Klyuchnikov and Dmitriy Yarchak, who has had a disability since childhood. The court deemed praying and singing religious songs to be extremism.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believers maintain their complete innocence.\nIn November 2020, the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Tatarstan initiated a criminal case and conducted a series of searches in Nizhnekamsk. An investigation was launched against the three men, which lasted 14 months. In January 2022, the case went to court, where it was considered for a further 19 months. All this time, the believers were under a recognizance agreement. Several witnesses summoned to court for questioning stated that they gave testimony to the investigator under pressure and threats from law enforcement officers, and one woman reported that the investigator arbitrarily added words to the protocol that she did not say. The main part of the charges is based on the testimony of a secret witness.\nSpeaking in court, the believers explained that the RF Supreme Court did not ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Klyuchnikov said: \"I think that the preliminary investigation agencies are incorrectly and arbitrarily interpreting the decision of the Supreme Court. And the reason I am on trial today, is their misinterpretation, and not the crime I allegedly I committed.\" Denis Filatov added: \"The episodes of participating in meetings for worship imputed to me can only indicate exercising the right to practice my religion and use methods of expressing faith that were not prohibited.\" Dmitriy Yarchak also said: \"While being peaceful and observing the law, I use the right guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\"\nIn Tatarstan, 13 more people have faced prosecution for their faith in Jehovah God. One of them, Konstantin Sannikov, has been sentenced to 6.5 years imprisonment.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-09-05T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_79fd63216177be1c.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_5dbafb43e3ab5e03.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_c831c324eae6e89c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/09/061348/image_hu_ff618fc682ee1aea.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/09/061348.html","regions":["tatarstan"],"subtitle":"The Court Found Them Guilty of Extremism for Their Faith in God ","tags":["282.2-1","sentence","fabrications","disability","secret-witness","suspended"],"title":"In Tatarstan, Three of Jehovah's Witnesses Were Given Long Suspended Sentences.","type":"news"},{"body":"It becomes known about the death of Sergei Ushakhin. The day before, his condition deteriorated greatly, and he was hospitalized in the city cardiology center.\nThe believer maintained a positive attitude to the end and defended his good name, refuting accusations of extremism.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Kruglyakov and Others in Syktyvkar","date":"2023-08-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/syktyvkar/index.html#20230810","regions":["komi"],"tags":["died","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On August 3, 2023, Irina Vlasova, judge of the Dzerzhinskiy District Court of Yaroslavl, found 4 Jehovah's Witnesses guilty of extremism: 47-year-old Andrey Vyushin and 57-year-old Petr Filiznov were given a 6.5-year suspended sentence; 40-year-old Aleksandr and 35-year-old Mariya Kuznetsova were given a 2.5-year suspended sentence.\nThe court imposed as additional punishment a 6-month restriction of freedom on the Kuznetsovs. Filiznov and Vyushin were given restriction of freedom for 1 year with deprivation of the right to hold leading positions in public and religious organizations for 4.5 years.\nIn the spring of 2021, a series of searches took place in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Yaroslavl. Andrey Vyushin, the father of a young child, as well as Petr Filiznov and the Kuznetsovs were detained. For discussing the Bible, praying and singing religious songs, Vyushin and Filiznov were charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization, and the Kuznetsovs — of participating in its activity. All four believers spent 3 months in a detention center, and then another 2 years under a ban on certain actions.\nThe criminal case against the residents of Yaroslavl was investigated by the Investigative Committee for more than a year; it went to court in August 2022. Judge Irina Vlasova heard the case for over 10 months with short breaks due to the illness of Aleksandr Kuznetsov, who was fighting cancer. The prosecution used the testimony of secret witnesses, but the defendants pointed out that their statements did not correspond with the facts. Other witnesses said that they had not heard from the defendants calls for the overthrow of the state system, the breakup of families or other extremist statements.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed, as the believers maintain their innocence. They emphasize that thanks to the Bible they have become useful members of society. Thus, Mariya Kuznetsova said: “Only love for God and people moves Jehovah’s Witnesses to meet together, read his Word, the Bible, meditate, discuss Bible questions, pray, sing spiritual songs and change for the better.” According to her husband Aleksandr Kuznetsov, the charge is completely contrary to the explanation of the Plenum of the Supreme Court, which states that a religious event in itself is not an illegal activity. “The RF Supreme Court did not forbid me to be a believer, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses… Faith in the living God Jehovah and worshiping him are not evil acts or extremism,” he stressed.\nAccording to the ruling of the ECHR, “only religious expressions and actions that contain or call for violence, hate or discrimination may serve as grounds for suppressing them as ‘extremist’.” Despite the absence of signs of extremism in the actions of believers, the authorities continue the mass prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-08-03T13:44:52+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_8fe144edb1493178.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_7ef69b504cbf58df.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_bca20e7ea412598b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/08/041344/image_hu_3b098ce0b963610d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/08/041344.html","regions":["yaroslavl"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1","282.2-2","sentence","suspended","families","minors","disability","secret-witness"],"title":"Court in Yaroslavl Punished Three Men and a Woman With Suspended Sentences of 2.5 and 6.5 Years For Their Beliefs","type":"news"},{"body":"Andrey Vlasov is in the same squad as Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk. Some of the prisoners remember them, and the believer did not have to explain for a long time who he was and what he was serving his sentence for.\nPhysically, Andrey feels that \"in general, everything is fine, as long as it's summer and warm.\" Cold weather usually has a negative impact on his health. Andrey tries to walk every day to get some air in a small courtyard measuring 13 by 6 meters.\nTo fight the disease and difficult conditions Vlasov helps communication with his wife Natalia - recently they had a long date. Letters also add positive emotions to him. However, at the moment, correspondence is issued with a long delay. As the believer understood, the staff did not like the fact that the letters discussed topics related to God and found references to the Bible.\nAndrey regularly reads the Bible and puts his thoughts from it into practice: he willingly shares with prisoners what his friends give him in parcels. Cellmates help Vlasov in everyday matters due to his health limitations. Andrey's relationship with the administration of the colony is also respectful.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vlasov in Prokopyevsk","date":"2023-07-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopevsk/index.html#20230718","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","health-risk","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 21, 2023, a panel of judges of the Stavropol Territory Court, chaired by Khalim Terkulov, upheld the verdict against 64-year-old Sergey Kuznetsov from Nevinnomyssk. The court of first instance had given him a 6-year suspended sentence; now this decision has entered into force.\nIn the appeal, the defense drew attention to the fact that neither the place nor the time of the illegal actions allegedly committed by Kuznetsov had been established. The transcripts of the conversations presented as evidence of guilt, do not contain any signs of extremism, but, on the contrary, refute the motives of a criminal nature attributed to the believer. “I still can’t understand how white suddenly became black, how efforts to live according to God’s standards suddenly became extremism,” said Sergey Kuznetsov during his final statement. “Article 28 of the RF Constitution proclaims my right to freedom of religion. But in reality I am denied this right.” The believer can appeal the verdict through the cassation procedure.\nSergey has been severely disabled for a long time; he has almost lost his sight and has hearing problems. The prosecution of Kuznetsov for his faith has been going on for more than 3 years — in December 2019, the Investigative Committee initiated criminal cases against eight believers, who at that time were from 54 to 89 years old. Later, charges against everyone except Kuznetsov were dropped. In total, 15 Jehovah's Witnesses faced criminal prosecution in the Stavropol Territory.\nHuman rights activists unanimously condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. Elizabeth Clark, an international expert on human rights and European Union law, said: “Jehovah's Witnesses... face increasing persecution of its members in Russia for exercising their rights to freedom of religion or belief. This violates Russia's commitments to international law and its own constitution.\"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-06-21T09:38:18+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/06/220938/image_hu_748e5279dc8a0794.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/06/220938/image_hu_b2c43fadbb5d7a01.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/06/220938/image_hu_79b017913aacb945.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/06/220938/image_hu_8f0fa710ff4ba65a.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/06/220938.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["elderly","disability","appeal","suspended","282.2-1"],"title":"In Stavropol Territory, Court of Appeal Upheld Verdict Against Sergey Kuznetsov, a Believer With a Disability — 6 Years Suspended","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 18, 2023, Yuriy Vaskin, judge of the Nevinnomyssk city court, found Sergey Kuznetsov guilty of organizing an extremist organization for discussing the Bible with friends, praying together and singing songs, imposing on him a 6-year suspended sentence. The prosecutor requested an even longer suspended sentence - 8 years.\nSergey has been severely disabled for more than 30 years, he has practically lost his sight, has hearing problems and can hardly move - the criminal prosecution has aggravated his condition. In November 2018, he was among those whose homes were searched. A year later, the Investigative Department for Nevinnomyssk of the Investigative Committee of the Stavropol Territory opened a criminal case against Kuznetsov. The believer signed a recognizance agreement. He was also added to the Rosfinmonitoring “list of extremists”, imposing restrictions on his accounts.\nOn August 5, 2022, the case went to court. The accusation against Sergey was based on the testimony of a secret witness - an FSB agent under the pseudonym Sidorov. “I could not even imagine that… I would be judged not for a crime, but for my faith in the Creator,” Sergey Kuznetsov noted in his final statement. There are no facts of extremism presented in the case; there are no victims of the religious actions of the defendant. Here is how Kuznetsov himself commented on that: \"It is impossible to combine the teachings of Christ and extremism, just as it is impossible to combine east and west\".\nSince 2018, there have been 6 convictions in criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses in the Stavropol Territory, and another case against a believer is being considered by the court.\nThe European Court of Human Rights in its decision drew attention to the fact that \"the Supreme Court did not... acknowledge... the effect of its dissolution, banning and confiscation decision on the rights of 175,000 individual Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia who were put before a stark and impossible choice: to reduce their religious activities to praying in isolation, without the company and support of fellow believers and without a place for worship, or to face criminal prosecution on charges of “continuing the activities of an extremist organisation” (§ 253).\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-04-18T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/04/200832/image_hu_e171fc9058ba923b.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/04/200832/image_hu_1559946fd14b32ac.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/04/200832/image_hu_a24f5106d356e97d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/04/200832/image_hu_178aeb1e118ec017.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/04/200832.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":"For His faith, Sergey Kuznetsov Was Given a 6-Year Suspended Sentence ","tags":["disability","elderly","sentence","suspended","282.2-1","health-risk"],"title":"A Court in Nevinnomyssk Declared a Pensioner With a Severe Disability an Extremist.","type":"news"},{"body":"Andrey Kozhushko, who is group II disabled person, faced criminal prosecution for his faith in April 2023, when the house where he lives with his mother was searched.\nAndrey was born in November 1975 in the village of Georgiyevka (Kazakhstan). In 1985, he moved with his mother to the Russian village of Taezhnyi (urban district of the closed city of Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Region).\nAs a child, Andrey liked skiing, played chess; in the summer he liked to go fishing and picking mushrooms in the forest. After school, he trained as a car mechanic. The young man was not called for military service due to his disability.\nReading the Bible, Andrey found that it explains in a simple and understandable language the origin of the world and the purpose of human life, and he also liked the Bible teaching that God will put an end to injustice and evil. In 1994, he and his mother became Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. He still enjoys reading Bible stories about the faithful servants of God from the past.\nAndrey is into computer technology and cars. He also enjoys watching informative videos about animals. Due to his disability, he cannot work in his profession.\nThe criminal prosecution changed the lives of Andrey Kozhushko and his retired mother. The stress they suffered has particularly affected her health.\n","date":"2023-05-18","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/kozhushko/photo_hu_51d05a4f522638ed.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/kozhushko/photo_hu_e6c5d379d590a26d.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/kozhushko/photo_hu_5d73d0666395f150.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/kozhushko/photo_hu_3abf9a57fd1a7aa3.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/kozhushko.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Andrey Kozhushko","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"On the evening of April 4, 2023, nine Jehovah's Witnesses in St. Petersburg were subjected to searches, six of them, men and women aged 40 to 68, were interrogated by the Investigative Committee throughout the night.\nAround 8 p.m., groups of OMON officers broke into the apartments of believers at several addresses in the south of the city. At that time, the hosts had guests. In one of the apartments, armed law enforcement officers in balaclavas broke down the door and shouted “everyone on the floor”.\nAccording to eyewitnesses, some searches were accompanied by caustic comments and obscene language from law enforcement officers. They were interested in items with the words \"God\", \"Jesus\", \"faith\" and \"Holy Scriptures\". Books, notebooks and notepads with personal notes, hard drives, electronic devices, and in one case, Bibles of various editions and a video cassette with a wedding recording were confiscated from believers. At about 1 a.m., the hosts and guests were taken for interrogation. They returned home only at 4 a.m.\nIn another apartment, where an elderly couple lives (the husband is a blind man, 82), law enforcement officers tried to behave respectfully. The security forces took one of the guests to his home to conduct a search there as well.\nIn February 2023, law enforcement agencies of the Leningrad Region initiated a case against believers from Kingisepp and Slantsy. During the interrogations, the investigators were interested in whether believers from St. Petersburg knew their fellow believers from Kingisepp.\nSt. Petersburg has become the 74th region in which Russian law enforcement officers persecute Jehovah's Witnesses for their peaceful religious practice.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2023-04-04T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/23218813626_a65dd88831_o_hu_a3b2ced771142e34.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/23218813626_a65dd88831_o_hu_ec173bd2c80c730f.jpg","webp":"/news/common/23218813626_a65dd88831_o_hu_613284c7a1a776c5.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/23218813626_a65dd88831_o_hu_7959300de005eb5f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/04/110844.html","regions":["stpetersburg"],"subtitle":"The Security Forces Searched for Everything With the Words \"God\", \"Jesus\" and \"Faith\"","tags":["search","interrogation","elderly","disability"],"title":"Raid on Jehovah's Witnesses in St. Petersburg.","type":"news"},{"body":"Already more than 700 Russian Jehovah's Witnesses have become victims of law enforcement following the 2017 Supreme Court decision. That is how many believers are being prosecuted for their religious beliefs and in the absence of an actual crime.\nAs of March 30, 2023, a total of 333 criminal cases have been filed against Russian Jehovah's Witnesses for their faith. There were 702 persons involved in these cases (one case may involve one or more accused persons). A total of 311 believers have already been sentenced, including 105 who received actual imprisonment, 32 who were fined, and 173 who received suspended sentences. At the moment 122 people are in penal colonies and pre-trial detention centers, and 16 are under house arrest.\nLast year and this year were marked by new harsh sentences for Jehovah's Witnesses, who receive the same sentences for peaceful religious activities as real criminals receive for murder. For example, on March 27, 2023, believer Aleksey Ukhov received six and a half years in prison in Sovetskaya Gavan in Khabarovsk territory; prior to that, he spent over eight months in a pre-trial detention center. The investigation charged the believer with such activities as \"reading prayers ... reading and quoting texts of the Holy Scriptures ... and psalm songs.\"\nIn early 2022, Yevgeny Korotun of Seversk, Tomsk Region, was sentenced to 7 years in prison. This sentence has already passed all instances, including the court of cassation.\nIn December 2022, a court in Crimea sentenced Aleksandr Litvinyuk and Aleksandr Dubovenko to 6 years in prison. In Chita, three believers will spend from 6 to 6.5 years behind bars, father of four children Konstantin Sannikov from Kazan - 6.5 years, and Dmitriy Malevany from Primorye Territory - 7 years. These are just some of the most recent examples of the multitude.\nRussian courts continue to send not only men but also women to prison. On March 27, 2023, the court of cassation finalized the case of Lyudmila Shchekoldina from the Krasnodar Territory. The woman received four years and one month in prison for \"describing the attractiveness of serving Jehovah\" (!). Lyudmila is one of four women currently serving time in a penal colony for believing in Jehovah's God.\nRussian courts continue to send seriously ill people with disabilities, including those who cannot be there for medical reasons, to prison. For example, Andrey Vlasov, who suffers from a complex of serious illnesses, can barely move and has difficulty maintaining himself, received a 7-year prison sentence. Courts of all instances ignored the fact that his illnesses are on the government-approved list of illnesses that prohibit a convicted person from being in a penal colony.\nAgainst the background of what is happening, the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation looks ironic. In 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that worship services by Jehovah's Witnesses do not constitute a crime by itself, but that the court must in each specific case identify the actual unlawful acts of the defendants. Despite this, on March 14, 2023, the same court reversed the acquittal verdict against three believers from Sverdlovsk region, in whose actions three courts had found no evidence of extremism.\nA similar decision was made by the Supreme Court in the case of three believers from Kamchatka, in the presence of the media and diplomats from six countries.\nOn June 7, 2022 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a historic ruling that completely acquitted Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The ruling was handed down simultaneously on 20 complaints filed by Russian believers. The court ruled that liquidating their legal entities, seizing their property, and banning their publications was illegal; it also ruled that the believers be discharged from prison and that they be paid compensation ranging from 1,000 to 15,000 euros each.\nAlthough the Russian authorities are in no hurry to comply with the ECHR's demands, the court's lengthy ruling (the Russian translation is 208 pages long) has once again made it clear that persecution of believers has no legal basis. \"The courts have not found [in the cases of the two dissolved religious organisations] a single word, act or deed of the applicants motivated by violence, hatred or discrimination against others or tinged with violence, hatred or discrimination,\" reads the ECtHR judgment (§ 271).\n\"The decisions to declare the publications 'extremist' and to liquidate the religious organisations of Jehovah's Witnesses were based on an unpredictable application of anti-extremism legislation,\" the court concluded (§ 282).\n","category":"analytics","date":"2023-03-30T16:03:51+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/03/301603/image_hu_fbf1d3f5c02df8d0.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/03/301603/image_hu_6b2fcdcf64146d0b.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/03/301603/image_hu_78ca61be9e4ee16f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/03/301603/image_hu_94f4a601959159cd.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/03/301603.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["analytics","elderly","disability","echr","liberty-deprivation"],"title":"There are Already 700 Victims of a Legal Collision. Men, Women, and Disabled Persecuted for Peaceful Religious Belief","type":"news"},{"body":"Pensioner Pavel Brilkov, who was previously a witness in the case of Andrey Vlasov, was himself accused of extremism because of his beliefs in the spring of 2023.\nPavel was born in 1958 in the city of Prokopyevsk, grew up here and lives all his life. After graduating from school, he worked as a molder of reinforced concrete products. In 1991, due to an accident, Pavel received an industrial injury—a compression fracture of the spine. The man received a group III disability.\nIn 2001, Pavel met Vera, and later they got married. Together they run a household, garden. In his free time, Pavel likes to be in nature and go to the forest.\nIn 2019, Pavel began to study the Bible. He heard a lot about this book from his mother-in-law, whom he respected and loved. \u0026quot;When I found out what God\u0026#39;s Kingdom would do for people and for me, I wanted to live according to Jehovah\u0026#39;s standards,\u0026quot; the believer recalls.\nThe criminal prosecution affected the health of Pavel and Vera. Relatives sympathize with them, being interested in what is happening.\n","date":"2023-09-18","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/brilkov/photo_hu_b5ff0e3ec7d77c01.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/brilkov/photo_hu_db6d8a4ca263dc3c.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/brilkov/photo_hu_3907181095cd1f00.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/brilkov/photo_hu_87fd5cf2c3afdf93.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/brilkov.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["elderly","disability"],"title":"Pavel Brilkov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"On March 3, 2023, the Chelyabinsk Regional Court upheld the verdict against Andrey Perminov who is severely disabled — a 6-year suspended sentence. Judge Marina Klyushina agreed with the ruling of the court of first instance to deem peaceful religious services and discussions of the Bible to be extremism.\nThe verdict has entered into force. Although the legislation of the Russian Federation does not classify the dissemination and practice of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremism, the courts interpreted the believer's actions as organizing the activity of an extremist organization. The prosecutor's office found the ruling of the court of first instance to be too lenient and appealed it.\nSpeaking at the appeal hearing, Andrey Perminov said: “Punishment is carried out for a specific purpose, namely, to correct the offender. I don't understand how exactly I should correct myself. During the course of the trial, it only was “revealed” that I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. My only “guilt” was that I studied the Bible, sang songs, discussed Bible thoughts with friends and shared knowledge with others... I have a feeling that the investigation and the prosecution want me to change my faith, renounce God, my heavenly Father... In fact, the prosecution suggests that I become an ungrateful son. This will never happen!”\nAndrey Perminov has been subjected to criminal prosecution for the second year. He says: “The searches leave a scar. Headlights, cars stopping under the windows made us nervous for a long time”. He adds: “We have a small budget and there are expenses for issuing powers of attorney for my wife, because I am disabled and cannot go to the various authorities... I was added on the list of Rosfinmonitoring as an extremist, and all my bank accounts and cards were blocked... I am very glad that my employer did not terminate my contract when he found out about the criminal case. It is a lifesaver that the post office employees deliver the disability pension to my door”.\nAccording to Andrey, like-minded people have become a huge support for him. “Friends have been constantly sending messages that they love us and pray fervently for us,” he says and adds –– “With the support of God, we will endure everything and he will restore everything - both reputation and inner peace.”\nIn a recent decision, the European Court emphasized the unlawfulness of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia: “Legal formalities should not be used to hinder the freedom of association of groups disliked by the authorities or advocating ideas that the authorities would like to suppress” (§ 243). Eric Patterson, executive vice president of the Religious Freedom Institute and former dean of Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, also noted, “Russia’s continuing persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses as ‘extremists’ who threaten Russia’s national security is unfair and unwise.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-03-03T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/03/060938/image_hu_af45a111cde5f886.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/03/060938/image_hu_facc2fcf765fc3d5.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/03/060938/image_hu_90aff68e4b96d41.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/03/060938/image_hu_d03f51618174f19c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/03/060938.html","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"subtitle":"Disabled Person Will Serve a 6-Year Suspended Sentence","tags":["appeal","282.2-1","disability","suspended"],"title":"Court of Appeal in Chelyabinsk Upheld the Verdict Against Andrey Perminov, One of Jehovah's Witnesses.","type":"news"},{"body":"On February 7, 2023, the Eighth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction (Kemerovo) upheld the decisions of lower courts regarding 54-year-old Andrey Vlasov, a disabled person. The believer will continue to serve his 7-year sentence in a penal colony, despite severe illness.\nVlasov was convicted under part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for peacefully practicing his religion. The law enforcement officers established only that believers held religious services, but at the same time, as the lawyer emphasizes, the investigation did not have information about a single action of the convict that could be considered a crime.\nThe defense cited the opinion of a medical specialist, according to which the conditions of stay in the pre-trial detention center and the penal colony contribute to the deterioration of Andrey Vlasov's health. His illness is included in the government-approved list of serious illnesses that prevent detention, but the courts of both instances ignored this fact. “The orthopedist, having seen the pictures, confirmed that with such a diagnosis, it's impossible to be in prison, and prison is the place where nothing is provided for the disabled at all,” said Andrey’s wife, Natalya.\nThe believer's lawyer drew attention to the seriousness of the situation in his appeal: \"If the court agrees with such a brutal and unfair verdict and appeal ruling, this will lead to Vlasov leaving the penal colony, at best, on a stretcher.\"\n“Such a punishment can be considered as degrading human dignity,” continues the defense. “Vlasov cannot take care of himself and constantly needs help with basic everyday tasks: he cannot reach his legs with his hands, because his joints restrict his movement, he can only take steps of ten centimeters.”\nDespite his health problems, Andrey tries to remain optimistic. In a conversation with his lawyer, Vlasov highlighted that “letters of support strengthen and encourage him, and he copes with difficulties thanks to the support of Jehovah God.”\nIn its decision of June 7, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia “should take all necessary measures to end the criminal prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses and release imprisoned Jehovah’s Witnesses.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2023-02-07T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2023/02/080854/image_hu_a824a9443ff844d3.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2023/02/080854/image_hu_960056a39297b40a.jpg","webp":"/news/2023/02/080854/image_hu_e5085b3b21c994a4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2023/02/080854/image_hu_45688caf966b3461.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2023/02/080854.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["cassation","liberty-deprivation","disability","health-risk","282.2-1"],"title":"Court of Cassation Upheld the Sentence Against Andrey Vlasov - 7 Years in a Penal Colony, Although According to the Law He Should Not Be in Prison","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 14, 2022, in Izhevsk investigative actions were conducted at two addresses where Jehovah's Witnesses live. A criminal case has been opened against two believers, 33-year old Yevgeniy Stefanidin and 49-year old Aleksandr Votyakov.\nRepresentatives of the Investigative Committee invaded the homes of the believers early in the morning. Electronic devices, hard drives, data storage, etc. were confiscated from them.\nLieutenant of Justice Artem Kholmogorov, a senior investigator of the Investigative Committee, charged Yevgeniy Stefanidin and Aleksandr Votyakov with organizing the activity of an extremist organization (part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the believers, the investigator considered it a crime to “organize and hold unlawful religious meetings . . . study articles from the book 'New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures' . . . that is, a publication that is part of the worldwide Bible educational activity carried out by Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses.”\nThe Stefanidins are raising a young child and Yevgeniy has a disability.\nThe day after the searches, on December 15, the court placed Aleksandr Votyakov under house arrest.\nIn Udmurtia, already five Jehovah's Witnesses, from Izhevsk and Votkinsk, are defending their innocence in court. In the summer of 2022, the ECHR issued a landmark ruling in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, which noted in particular: “Both the applicants’ religious activities and the content of their publications appear to have been peaceful in line with their professed doctrine of non-violence” (§157).\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2022-12-14T13:26:05+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/police_hu_c2b408d29a0866a9.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/police_hu_77177c4f3bb7b17b.jpg","webp":"/news/common/police_hu_38a613f39b8476.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/police_hu_7739329aeb3bcc37.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/12/191326.html","regions":["udmurtia"],"subtitle":"One of Them Was Placed Under House Arrest","tags":["search","282.2-1","house-arrest","new-case","disability","minors"],"title":"Homes of Jehovah's Witnesses Were Searched in Izhevsk.","type":"news"},{"body":"On November 21, 2022, Ravil Nusratov, judge of the Asha City Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, found Andrey Perminov, 50, who has been a wheelchair user from his youth, guilty of extremism because of his religion and gave him a 6 years' suspended sentence.\nAndrey Perminov is severely disabled. The criminal prosecution of the believer began in the summer of 2021, when investigator Yevgeniy Dolgaev opened a criminal case against him, and a series of searches took place in the Chelyabinsk Region in the homes of those whom the investigation considered to be Jehovah's Witnesses. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region investigated the case for almost a year, after which in May 2022 it was submitted to the Ashinsky City Court. During the court hearings, it turned out that a listening device had been installed in the Perminovs' apartment. However, neither the recordings from it nor the witnesses for the prosecution could prove a violation of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but only confirmed that the accused is an ordinary believer.\nExpressing his opinion of the accusation, the believer said: “All the materials of the criminal case and the evidence presented by the prosecution essentially boil down to the fact that I was a believer and held services with fellow believers. In fact, this is discrimination based on religious affiliation.”\nThe verdict, which corresponded with the punishment requested by the prosecutor for Perminov, has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on his complete innocence.\nIn the Chelyabinsk Region, 11 more Jehovah's Witnesses were subjected to criminal prosecution for their faith, including 4 women. Two elderly women, Lyudmila Salikova and Valentina Suvorova, received suspended sentences.\nIn June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling in favor of Jehovah's Witnesses, in which it presented the result of analysis of all the logical and legal errors grossly committed by Russian courts, and came to the unequivocal conclusion that their persecution in Russia is illegal.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-11-21T14:41:46+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/11/211441/image_hu_574ac47a7a161f4.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/11/211441/image_hu_7477089bc4dc103.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/11/211441/image_hu_b84ab657f6c8dc9a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/11/211441/image_hu_a1534638b0a027a0.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/11/211441.html","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"subtitle":"severely disabled person sentenced to 6 years' probation for believing in Jehovah God","tags":["282.2-1","disability","sentence","suspended","surveillance"],"title":"The court in the Chelyabinsk Region issued a guilty verdict against Andrey Perminov;","type":"news"},{"body":"In his last speech, Andrey Perminov, a disabled person of group I, explains to the court the inconsistency of the charges against him.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Perminov in Asha","date":"2022-11-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/asha/index.html#20221117","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["final-statement","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Andrey Vlasov, 54, who is disabled, was sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony for his Christian beliefs. Due to a serious illness, he cannot manage without external help. The four-minute video tells what the believer has to face while waiting for the decision of the court of cassation.\nIn May 2022, the Central District Court of Prokopyevsk found Andrey Vlasov guilty of organizing the activity of an extremist organisation and sentenced him to 7 years in a penal colony. In July of the same year, the court of appeal confirmed the verdict. The courts considered it a crime that the believer participated in religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses via videoconferencing. According to the court, by discussing Bible commandments, the believer undermined the foundations of the constitutional order of state and society.\nNatalya Vlasova, Andrey's wife: “Not a single piece of evidence was given. Well, for example, undermining the constitutional order of the country. How is it expressed? No mention of what my husband actually did. Breaking family ties. Which family, exactly, did he destroy? Name, surname, address, place of residence? Nothing is specified. The indictment just quoted Article 282. Andrey gave his final statement on May 23, 2022. Literally after a 5-minute break, the judge pronounced the sentence - 7 years.”\nMaksim Polezhaykin, Andrey Vlasov's stepson: “My reaction is shock. Also the people who were present there, friends, acquaintances, relatives, were also all shocked.”\nThe courts did not take into account Andrey's state of health. He was taken into custody in the courtroom and sent to a pre-trial detention center. Earlier, after the searches and arrest in 2020, Andrey Vlasov was already in custody (later he was put under house arrest). Obviously, the conditions of imprisonment are unacceptable and painful for the believer.\nAleksandr Vakarev, surgeon, orthopedic traumatologist: \"Andrey suffers from a severe form of osteoarthritis of both hip joints with their ankylosing, that is, total stiffness, as a result of which Andrey's functions of movement, personal care and socializing suffer.\"\nAs Maksim Polezhaykin said, after the arrest, Andrey Vlasov ended up in a cell in a pre-trial detention center alone, without external help: “In order to simply put on his pants, he had to roll on the floor.” Because of unsanitary conditions, the believer had to tidy up the cell on his own: “Huge cockroaches run around, cobwebs are everywhere, dirty. He tidied up, more or less for himself having to be there,” said Maksim.\nArtur Ganin, lawyer: “The decree of the government of the Russian Federation establishes a general group of diseases, which specifically includes his disease. In order to somehow show this to the court, I turned to a specialist. Unfortunately, this disease can progress, and it is already progressing.”\nNow Vlasov is in penal colony No. 3 in the Novosibirsk Region. He appealed the verdict and the appeal decision to the court of cassation, which has the power to restore freedom and decent living conditions to the believer.\nAccording to Natalya Vlasova, Andrey remains optimistic and tries to keep in touch with her and his friends through letters. “Having already passed through these two years, I found myself thinking that in the beginning I was afraid. In fact, just waiting is scary. When it happens, Jehovah is so close, you can really feel his support!”\n","category":"eyewitnesses","date":"2022-11-14T10:45:34+02:00","duration":"4:01","image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/11/141045/image_hu_8d6bfc58fcaa06d4.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/11/141045/image_hu_c503a05b1284266b.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/11/141045/image_hu_6b2a05f8dacd7ff0.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/11/141045/image_hu_c0e0a760026ea735.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/11/141045.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","health-risk","video","282.2-1","liberty-deprivation"],"title":"In the Penal Colony, The Health of Andrey Vlasov From Prokopyevsk, Who is Disabled, is Deteriorating","type":"video"},{"body":"On November 14, 2022, the Georgievsk City Court of the Stavropol Territory found Viktor Zimovskiy and the couple Anatoliy and Irina Gezik guilty of extremism for professing their faith. This decision was made by judge Nina Anashkina.\nThe court sentenced Viktor Zimovskiy to 6 years and 2 months in a penal colony (he was taken into custody in the courtroom), Anatoliy Gezik received 4 years and 2 months of corrective labor, and Irina Gezik was given a suspended sentence of 4 years and 2 months. The decision of the court has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believers insist on their complete innocence.\nThe Investigation Department of the Stavropol Territory opened a criminal case against Zimovskiy and the Gezik couple in December 2019. They were accused of organizing and participating in the activity of an extremist organization. According to believers, when searches were carried out in their homes two months earlier, law enforcement officers planted flash drives in them. During the search, Viktor Zimovskiy, who has a disability, felt unwell. Nevertheless, he and 10 other people were taken for interrogation. At that time, there were no arrests.\nThe investigator arrested Viktor after a second interrogation in January 2020. He spent 2 months in jail. At first, Zimovskiy was in a four-bed cell, along with 10 other prisoners. The inmates had to either sleep in turns or lie right on the cold floor. Due to the poor conditions of detention, Viktor fell ill. “In addition, at that time my wife was pregnant, and I could not be around to take care of her,” he said.\nThe investigation took 2 years and 2 months and on February 15, 2022, the case was submitted to the Georgievsk City Court of the Stavropol Territory. The trial lasted 9 months.\nThe courts of the Stavropol Territory are considering 2 more criminal cases against 8 believers, 5 of which are women over 57 years old.\nRussian and international human rights activists have repeatedly emphasized that the ongoing persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Federation is unjustified. However, the repressions do not slow down: hundreds of innocent believers have already become victims of criminal prosecution.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-11-14T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/11/161451/image_hu_61e20874bce2581d.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/11/161451/image_hu_f7562e0e67db40c7.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/11/161451/image_hu_577ae11a1b6b7ca6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/11/161451/image_hu_fa719243e35c9f82.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/11/161451.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["labor","liberty-deprivation","suspended","sentence","families","disability","plant","minors","282.2-1","282.2-2","health-risk"],"title":"Term in a Penal Colony, Suspended Sentence and Forced Labor—Three Jehovah's Witnesses Were Sentenced in Stavropol for Their Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"On November 1, 2022, the Primorye Territory Court in Vladivostok upheld the sentence for Liya Maltseva from the town of Partizansk. This 53-year-old woman with a group II disability was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months of suspended sentence for participating in the activities of an extremist organization. This is how the court regarded the peaceful profession of faith in Jehovah God.\nThe verdict has entered into force. The believer still insists on her innocence. She has the right to appeal the verdict in cassation.\nIn the Court of Appeal, Liya Maltseva drew attention to the fact that not a single statement or action of hers, in which hatred, violence or enmity was manifested, was presented to the court of lower instance. She stressed: \"The State Prosecution has not demonstrated that I participated in any socially dangerous activity. All the evidence examined in the trial court only shows that I discussed the Bible and its teachings with other people. I participated in a peaceful worship service, where I sang songs, listened to a Bible speech, studied a religious text that was not included in the federal list of extremist materials. All this was of an exclusively peaceful nature\".\nThe believer has been under house arrest since August 2020. Then a search was conducted in her apartment, and Maltseva herself was subjected to a psychiatric examination, for which she had to go to Ussuriysk, 200 km from home. The basis of the criminal case was the testimony of one of the participants in the religious service, who conducted covert videotaping of the meetings of believers.\nIn Primorye Territory, criminal cases were opened on similar charges against 44 other people. The sentences for 13 of them have already entered into force.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-11-01T15:25:12+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/11/011525/image_hu_16b5de4d247a289a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/11/011525/image_hu_1a8fed0cfa4fcb3b.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/11/011525/image_hu_5719572b2077351d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/11/011525/image_hu_aa235b9fdd59f514.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/11/011525.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","suspended","282.2-2","disability"],"title":"In Vladivostok, the Appeal Upheld Liya Maltseva's Sentence for Professing the Faith of Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"The state prosecution is requesting 6 years of suspended imprisonment for Andrey Perminov with a probationary period of 4 years and a one-year ban on leaving the area of residence.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Perminov in Asha","date":"2022-10-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/asha/index.html#20221026","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["punishment-request","282.2-1","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 20, 2022, Aleksandr Yagubkin, a judge of the Partizan City Court of Primorye Territory, found 53-year-old Liya Maltseva guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. The believer was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months of suspended imprisonment and 7 months of restriction of liberty.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. Maltseva insists on her complete innocence. In her last statement in court, she said: \"It is unthinkable for me not only to commit a crime, but also to hate or even offend someone.\"\nIn July 2020, Liya Maltseva, a disabled person of group II, was surprised to find out that she was on the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring. As it turned out, a criminal case was initiated against her.\nCurrently, another trial is underway in Partizansk against believer Irina Buglak. The presiding judge is Darya Didur, who authorized the search at Liya Maltseva's house as well.\nAs Memorial Human Rights Center notes, the decisions of Russian courts, including the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, “contain not a single fact of violation of public order by believers, manifestations of aggression or violence on their part, evidence that their peaceful religious activities threatened the security of the Russian Federation [...] The foregoing allows us to speak about the obvious illegality of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, whose ‘crime’ is that they exercised the right to freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-09-20T15:01:52+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/09/211501/image_hu_cd81be14bdfb5045.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/09/211501/image.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/09/211501/image_hu_12246eeb66d2954.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/09/211501/image_hu_6bd23e7419205342.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/09/211501.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","282.2-2","suspended","rosfinmonitoring","sentence"],"title":"Primorye Court Found Liya Maltseva, One of Jehovah's Witnesses with Disability, Guilty of Extremism for Believing in God","type":"news"},{"body":"On September 15, 2022, the Seventh General Jurisdiction Court of Cassation in Chelyabinsk refused to satisfy the prosecutor's cassation submission and upheld the acquittal of Aleksandr Pryanikov, Venera and Darya Dulova.\nThe criminal persecution of believers began in June 2018, when police detained Aleksandr Pryanikov and Venera Dulova, who had disability of hearing, while talking about Bible topics. A month later, a criminal case was opened against them, accusing them of participating in the activities of an extremist organization for discussing the Bible. A year later, the third defendant in the case was the daughter of Venera, Darya Dulova.\nThe court of first instance issued a guilty verdict in January 2021, but in August an appeals court in Yekaterinburg overturned it and returned the case to the court of first instance. As a result of repeated hearings in the new composition, the court again sentenced the believers to suspended sentences. In the spring of 2022, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court overturned the decision of the court of first instance and acquitted the believers. But the prosecutor filed a cassation presentation with the Seventh Court of Cassation.\nAleksandr Pryanikov, Venera and Darya Dulova are defendants in another criminal case initiated for their faith on similar charges.\n","category":"victory","date":"2022-09-15T15:58:43+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/09/151558/image_hu_976c795f0bac696e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/09/151558/image_hu_b6ce5571f45a3b21.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/09/151558/image_hu_d1ee2c3a7b911667.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/09/151558/image_hu_28bbc2d95f51e70c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/09/151558.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["cassation","282.2-2","acquittal","families","disability"],"title":"An Appeals Court Upheld the Acquittal of Three Jehovah's Witnesses from Karpinsk","type":"news"},{"body":"From seven in the evening to midnight, 61-year-old Sergey Malyutin, a disabled person of group III, and his family were searched under the direction of senior investigator Yevgeniy Kozlov. Law enforcers seize money, electronic devices, personal records and a biblical domino.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Malyutin in Chelyabinsk","date":"2022-09-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chelyabinsk13/index.html#20220908","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["search","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On September 5, 2022, Vologda City Court Judge Yelena Golovanova found Nikolay Stepanov and Yuriy Baranov guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization and handed the believers a four-year prison and four-year suspended sentence respectively. Stepanov was taken into custody in the courtroom.\nThe trial went on for over six months. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor requested 7 years in prison for Nikolay Stepanov, and 7 years suspended sentence for Yuriy Baranov. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The men insist on their complete innocence.\nIn December 2019, massive searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Vologda, after which Stepanov and Baranov were detained. For more than two years, the senior investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Vologda Region A. A. Nesterov investigated their case.\nYuriy Baranov was under house arrest for more than 3 months. Under house arrest, the believer lived in a one-room apartment with a disabled mother, 94. Due to the stress of the persecution, Baranov's heart problems worsened and he was hospitalized. In view of his weakened health, investigator Nesterov released Yuriy uder recognizance agreement. Addressing the court with the last word, the believer noted: “The manifestation of enmity, violence and hatred is incompatible with my views. I respect representatives of other religions and nationalities. I don't understand why I'm accused of a crime. Obviously, the only reason is faith.”\nNikolay Stepanov spent 8 months in a pre-trial detention center, and then a month and a half under house arrest. Stepanov said: \"The most difficult thing was to be in a confined space every day, where everyone smokes.\" In addition, Nikolay was not allowed to see his family—only once was he allowed to call his son. Addressing the court with the last word, Nikolay emphasized: “Jehovah's Witnesses do not take up arms and do not learn to fight, we love all people and do not want to cause harm and suffering to anyone. For this reason, extremism is alien to me.”\nThe defendants said that they were greatly supported by those who came to court hearings and showed interest in the outcome of the case. Nikolay Stepanov added that letters gave him strength, the number of which reached 1150 during his imprisonment. According to fellow believers, Stepanov and Baranov have many friends and are \"always ready to help.\"\nDespite the fact that the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issued a ruling in defense of the right of Jehovah's Witnesses to hold divine services and joint religious rites and ceremonies, the persecution of believers in the country does not stop.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-09-05T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_8674198a6a0277b2.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_47ebc02597cbae3c.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_ea95335375862ea6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/09/061424/image_hu_51c401fa6f4b1675.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/09/061424.html","regions":["vologda"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["elderly","282.2-1","sentence","suspended","liberty-deprivation","health-risk","letters","disability"],"title":"Vologda-Based Yuriy Baranov, 70, Was Handed a Four-Year Suspended Sentence, and Nikolay Stepanov, 48, Was Handed a Four-Year Prison Sentence for Their Belief in God","type":"news"},{"body":"On July 26, 2022, a panel of judges of the Kemerovo Regional Court, chaired by Larisa Korneva, denied 53-year-old Andrey Vlasov from Prokopievsk his appeal against conviction for faith. The verdict of the lower court has entered into force.\nDespite this, the believer still insists on his innocence. He has the right to appeal the verdict in the cassation procedure, as well as in international instances.\nIn May 2022, the judge of the Central District Court of Prokopyevsk, Pavel Kotykhov, found Andrey Vlasov guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist community and sentenced him to 7 years in prison.\nDespite the fact that Andrey Vlasov has Degree II disability and cannot do much without the help of his wife, the state prosecutor requested for him 8.5 years of imprisonment. A physically disabled person had to spend two days on temporary detention and a year and 10 months under house arrest. Although he never violated the detention regime, the court repeatedly extended his preventive measure and restricted his access to medical treatment.\nThe criminal case against Andrey Vlasov was initiated on July 2, 2020 by Ivan Sablin, investigator with the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Kemerovo Region — Kuzbass. The investigation went on for almost a year. In June 2021, the Vlasov case was submitted to the Central District Court of the city of Prokopyevsk.\nCurrently, 13 Jehovah's Witnesses are being persecuted for their faith in the Kemerovo region. Three of them received suspended sentences. Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk have already been released from the penal colony.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-07-26T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/07/271423/image_hu_c5d9c3f53d509682.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/07/271423/image_hu_4f1b0dc286766fe7.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/07/271423/image_hu_ad9f905860989641.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/07/271423/image_hu_8f026858c3866302.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/07/271423.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","disability","medical-rights","liberty-deprivation","282.2-1"],"title":"A Kemerovo Appeals Court Upheld Andrey Vlasov's Sentence: a Seven-Year Imprisonment for His Faith in God","type":"news"},{"body":"The lawyer visits Vladimir Skachidub in the colony. Vladimir is not discouraged and maintains a positive attitude. He has all the necessary medicines, the barracks are clean, there is a refrigerator, enough food. The believer also has a Bible. He continues to receive a large number of letters and devotes a lot of time to answering them.\nVladimir has good relations with other prisoners and the administration. He generously shares with others, treats others kindly. All this, as well as the venerable age of the believer, cause him to be treated with respect.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Skachidub in Pavlovskaya","date":"2022-07-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/pavlovskaya3/index.html#20220721","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["life-in-prison","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On the morning of July 13, 2022, searches were carried out in Rybinsk at 16 addresses where Jehovah's Witnesses live; three families were also searched at their country-house. There were no arrests. Criminal cases have been initiated.\nThe raid was initiated by the Russian Investigative Committee for the Yaroslavl region. Special events were held with the participation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard officers, as well as detectives of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Yaroslavl Region A. Ivanenko, V. Moskalev and D. Kovalenko. The basis was the decision of the Rybinsk City Court of July 12, 2022.\nCommunication equipment, electronic devices, data carriers, a digital camera, audio cassettes with music files, several copies of the Bible in different translations, and a book by a religious scholar about Jehovah's Witnesses were seized from the believers.\nOne of the believers said that 7 people came to her with a search. They did not show their official identification, but showed a search warrant. One of the officers was armed. The woman recalls: “It was very scary. Violence was not used, but for me the interrogation was real torture, since my health is very poor, I fell into faint. The interrogation of the believer lasted about 4 hours.\nUpdate. The woman's son and his wife were also searched. First, the security forces invaded their dacha. The search was attended by an investigator of the Investigative Committee, Lieutenant Colonel Andrey Bruders, a representative of the FSB and two witnesses, who, according to the victims, were police officers and assisted in conducting the search. The believer's wife was taken away for interrogation to the investigative committee, and he himself was taken to the apartment in the city to continue the search. There he found that the door to the dwelling had been broken down. Later, he was taken for interrogation to the building of the local lyceum, where other believers from Rybinsk were also interrogated. The man was told that he was a witness in the case against Yevgenia Samoilova and Olga Golovacheva (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which would be conducted by Dmitry Kolesnikov, an investigator for especially important cases.\nThe security forces also came with a search to the family of 60-year-old believers, where the wife is disabled since childhood. One police officer introduced himself as a neighbor and asked to open the door, another, entering, began to record what was happening on video, but at the request of the owner of the house, he stopped filming. The couple's bank cards, on which pensions and salaries were accrued, were confiscated. They were later interrogated separately from each other.\nDuring a search in the apartment of Alexander Belyakov, the security forces demanded him to explain for what purpose he installed a program for video conferencing. According to the believer, the law enforcement officers behaved rudely: “They ordered me to stand up facing the interior door, raise my hands up, turning them palms out, and at the same time spread my legs as wide as possible. They said that I would stand like that until I told the password from the mail. There were threats of physical force.\" After the search, the believer was interrogated at the FSB department, and then taken to the Investigative Committee. All these events lasted about 15 hours. A criminal case has been initiated against the man.\nDuring a search in the apartment of Alexander Belyakov, the security forces demanded him to explain for what purpose he installed a program for video conferencing. According to the believer, the law enforcement officers behaved rudely: “They ordered me to stand up facing the interior door, raise my hands up, turning them palms out, and at the same time spread my legs as wide as possible. They said that I would stand like that until I told the password from the mail. There were threats of physical force.\" After the search, the believer was interrogated at the FSB department, and then taken to the Investigative Committee. All these events lasted about 15 hours. A criminal case has been initiated against the man.\nThe day after the raid, on July 14, one of the believers, 45-year-old Dmitriy Lebedev, was summoned for interrogation, where he was told that a criminal case had also been opened against him. The believer was threatened with 6 years in prison.\nOn July 27, Dmitriy Lebedev's house was searched again. Earlier, during the first raid in Rybinsk, an unknown man called Dmitriy from his mother's phone and said from the name of ambulance doctors that he needed to come to her. When he arrived at the house, he was met by police officers and taken away for interrogation. It also became known that on July 27, another believer, Yuriy Gusev, was taken to the Investigative Committee. Information regarding him is being specified.\nIn April 2021, mass searches were already taking place in Yaroslavl and Rybinsk. Criminal cases were initiated against 4 peaceful believers, now they are under a ban on certain actions.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2022-07-13T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/UAZ_Police_hu_947dc7e0f5f68c90.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/UAZ_Police_hu_73c0f0de456d043.jpg","webp":"/news/common/UAZ_Police_hu_8aa4f932f69f3d33.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/UAZ_Police_hu_f0775ec321e7e27e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/07/250918.html","regions":["yaroslavl"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["interrogation","new-case","search","282.2-2","disability"],"title":"Mass Searches and Interrogations of Believers Took Place in the Yaroslavl Region","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 23, 2022, the judge of the Central District Court of Prokopyevsk Pavel Kotykhov found 53-year-old Andrey Vlasov guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist community and sentenced him to 7 colony codes. He was taken into custody in the courtroom.\nAddressing the court with the last word, Vlasov said: “My physical condition is limited . . . Due to stiffness in movement, without outside help, I cannot take care of my legs: put on socks, take care of my feet and toes. All this is done by my dear [wife] Natasha. I am in constant need of medical treatment and supervision.”\nAndrey Vlasov outside the courthouse Because of the criminal prosecution, all the worries about material needs fell on the shoulders of Andrei's wife, Natalya. The Vlasovs are grateful to fellow believers who came to court hearings, provided practical assistance, sent postcards and letters of support.\nIn July 2020, Ivan Sablin, an investigator with the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Kemerovo Region—Kuzbass, opened a criminal case against Andrey Vlasov. Ten days later, the FSB searched his house and workplace. The investigation went on for almost a year. In June 2021, the Vlasov case was submitted to the Central District Court of the city of Prokopyevsk. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to 8.5 years in prison.\nVlasov spent two days in isolation, a year and 10 months he was under house arrest. Andrey said: “I am limited in movement, my life revolves on 30 square meters of an apartment.” Despite the fact that the believer never violated the detention regime, the court repeatedly extended his preventive measure. All this had a negative impact on his health, however, the court continued to restrict Vlasov from visiting medical institutions.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on his complete innocence.\nIn the Kemerovo Region, 14 Jehovah's Witnesses are persecuted for their faith. Three of them received suspended sentences. Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk have already served their terms in a penal colony.\nRussian law enforcers mistakenly interpret the usual exercise of the constitutional rights of believers as extremist activity. Although the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation banned the activities of legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, this court did not in itself prohibit the practice of this religion.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-05-23T14:37:23+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/05/231437/image_hu_6e984ee1bf151ac5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/05/231437/image_hu_2bef7a537679dd21.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/05/231437/image_hu_e475e9e333fd3e9b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/05/231437/image_hu_a50fb0f06971be18.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/05/231437.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["282.2-1","liberty-deprivation","disability","sentence"],"title":"A Kemerovo Region Disabled Person, Andrey Vlasov, Was Handed a Seven-Year Penal Colony Sentence for Holding Bible-Based Discussions","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 20, 2022, the Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the sentence of Vladimir Skachidub, a 60-year-old Jehovah's Witness from the village of Kholmskaya. The believer will have to spend more than 4 years behind bars.\nOn October 11, 2021, the judge of the Pavlovskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory, Olga Marchenko, convicted Vladimir Skachidub under two extremist articles, finding him guilty of participation in the activities of a banned organization and involvement in it. Since then, Vladimir, a group III disabled person, has been kept in a pre-trial detention center. According to the investigation and the court, his fault lies in the fact that he shared his beliefs with acquaintances and did not renounce them when the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses were liquidated in 2017.\nThe verdict has entered into force. The believer still insists on his innocence. He has the right to appeal the verdict in cassation.\nIn total, 16 criminal cases were initiated in the Krasnodar Territory against 25 believers. 12 of them have already been convicted and received real prison terms. The most severe punishment - 7.5 years in prison - was received by a resident of the village of Kholmskaya Aleksandr Ivshin.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-04-20T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/04/211533/image_hu_f88cf5636581b801.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/04/211533/image_hu_3e50c8c212f1d2c0.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/04/211533/image_hu_3a42c84fbbfbf53a.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/04/211533/image_hu_c3b423a0595eaf0.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/04/211533.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","liberty-deprivation","282.2-2","282.2-1.1","disability"],"title":"Vladimir Skachidub's Verdict of Four-Years-and-Two Months in Prison for Believing in Jehovah God Was Upheld Despite an Appeal Filed in Krasnodar","type":"news"},{"body":"In the evening in Balakovo, FSB officers, the National Guard and SOBR fighters conduct hours of searches that affect 14 Jehovah's Witnesses, including the elderly and disabled.\nAccording to the victims, the security forces generally behave politely. Some believers are offered to cooperate with the investigation.\nThe security forces claim that they are looking for \"weapons, drugs and prohibited literature.\" They seize electronic devices, personal records and postcards, and some have Bibles and religious books. Also, the phone was seized from a relative of believers who is not Jehovah's Witness.\nThe security forces come to the Murych family at 11 p.m. They also search the children's room, which is why the young child cannot sleep.\nAfter interrogations, which end after midnight, Aleksey Bogatov, Vladimir Mavrin, Yevgeniy Fomashin, Andrey Murych and Sergey Tyurin are sent to the temporary detention facility.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Mavrin and Others in Balakovo","date":"2022-03-23T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/balakovo/index.html#20220323","regions":["saratov"],"tags":["search","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On March 18, 2022, the Volgograd Regional Court upheld the conviction of Valeriy Rogozin, Igor Egozaryan, Denis Peresunko and Sergey Melnik. They will get jailed for their faith in Jehovah God.\nIn September 2021, the court of first instance sentenced Rogozin to 6 years and 5 months in a penal colony, Peresunko to 6 years and 3 months, and Melnik and Egozaryan to 6 years in a penal colony. The verdict has entered into force, but believers can appeal it in cassation.\nWhen the criminal prosecution began, the wife of Denis Peresunko died of COVID-19, and the believer himself was placed in a pre-trial detention center for 5 months. He is on disability and the resulting stress has exacerbated his condition. A long stay in the pre-trial detention center also seriously undermined the health of Valeriy Rogozin. Egozaryan and Melnik are raising their underage sons.\nIn 2019, law enforcement officers arrested four believers and accused them of organizing extremist activities, and later two of them — Peresunko and Rogozin — also of financing it. At the same time, recordings of religious meetings of Volgograd Jehovah's Witnesses, at which they discuss Bibles, sing songs and pray to God, were used as material evidence of their “guilt.”\nIn court, the prosecution interrogated classified witnesses. One of them kept a covert record of worship and stated that the unlawful activities of the defendants consisted in the fact that they \"obey God.\" Another secret witness said that he had never heard threats, calls for violence or the overthrowing of power from the defendants. Some witnesses openly stated that their testimony had been falsified by the investigator.\nThe scheme, according to which Volgograd residents were convicted, is used by law enforcement agencies throughout Russia against peaceful believers. As in the Rogozin case, the indictments mention “propaganda of the cult of religious superiority of the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses” as evidence of extremism. However, human rights activists in Russia and abroad consider this approach to be erroneous and unconstitutional. In particular, back in 2017, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, a member of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society and human rights, noted with concern: “What believer does not consider his faith to be true? Jehovah's Witnesses is a church that has branches in many countries. They everywhere freely profess their faith and nowhere are they considered extremists. And we have Jehovah's Witnesses, as sincerely believing people, very exemplary citizens: hard-working, honestly treating their families, their children.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-03-18T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_6d28dbf2de06dac.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_db91ef1e7ce556ab.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_e5116b508ffc0d2d.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/03/210919/image_hu_37f94eaf12c37cfe.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/03/210919.html","regions":["volgograd"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","liberty-deprivation","282.2-1","282.3-1","disability","minors","health-risk","fabrications","secret-witness","surveillance","elderly"],"title":"An Appeal in Volgograd Upholds the Sentence of Four Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"news"},{"body":"A prosecution witness, a disabled person of group III, is being interrogated. He says that in worship services, Jehovah's Witnesses are encouraged to obey the laws of the state; He had never heard any extremist appeals or negative statements from any of the defendants. The witness states that during repeated interrogations the investigator put pressure on him and did not record his testimony verbatim.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Gobozev and Potapov in Votkinsk","date":"2022-03-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/votkinsk/index.html#20220317","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["first-instance","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"47-year-old Irina Ushakova is being searched again.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ushakova in Vyselki","date":"2022-02-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki11/index.html#20220218","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["search","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On February 15, 2022, the Supreme Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic upheld the sentence for faith to Yelena Menchikova — 5 years’ suspended. At the same time, she is exempt from paying court costs.\nIn December 2021, the court of first instance found the believer guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and involving other persons in it, considering it a crime that Yelena Menchikova discussed the Bible with others, including at religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses. According to the believer's defense, the accusatory decision was made despite the fact that during the trial some witnesses gave false testimony. One of them said that he first saw Yelena only in court.\nThe believer denies the accusations of extremism and can appeal the decision of the appellate instance to the Court of Cassation and international structures.\nMenchikova is a group II disabled person and needs constant medication. Because of her recognizance not to live, it became more difficult for her to receive medical assistance. The former doctors, having learned about the criminal prosecution of Yelena, stopped helping her. The accounts of the 57-year-old woman were seized.\nAccording to the clarification of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia, religious meetings and conversations about the Bible cannot in themselves be considered extremism. On February 9, 2022, Chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev additionally emphasized: “Actions that do not contain signs of extremism and consist solely in exercising the right to freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including through the performance of religious rites and ceremonies, do not constitute a crime.”\n","category":"verdict","date":"2022-02-15T17:07:55+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2022/02/151707/image_hu_c8c9dcd8dcfad5de.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2022/02/151707/image_hu_ce518f7a2c99480c.jpg","webp":"/news/2022/02/151707/image_hu_ba04f984fe757654.webp","webp2x":"/news/2022/02/151707/image_hu_81e5e06119cc3540.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/02/151707.html","regions":["karachaevo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","appeal","282.2-1.1","282.2-2","suspended"],"title":"A Cherkessk Appeals Court Affirmed Yelena Menchikova's, a Woman With a Disability, Sentence for Practicing Her Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"The homes of Irina and Vitaliy Ushakov are being searched. The man is detained.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Ushakova in Vyselki","date":"2022-02-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/vyselki11/index.html#20220213","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["search","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On Sunday morning, 13 February 2022, at least 25 homes of Jehovah's Witnesses were raided in the villages of Vyselki and Berezanskaya in Krasnodar Territory. Another search took place in Novorossiysk. According to preliminary information, a criminal case was opened for belief in God against three men — Valeriy Vichkayev, Vitaliy Ushakov and Yevgeniy Bochko.\nUshakov, 41, was placed in the detention center in the town of Korenovsk after interrogation. In the coming days, the court will decide on his measure of restraint. The 46-year-old Bochkov was also interrogated in Korenovsk, but by the evening he was released home. Law enforcement officers did not find Valeriy Vichkayev at home, broke down the front door and conducted a search without the owners being present. Law enforcement officers, some of whom were armed with submachine guns, did not let Vichkaev's mother-in-law and the youngest daughter into the house without any explanation. The daughter was sick after spending several hours in the street.\nAnother peaceful believer allegedly became a suspect. He was interrogated, but, due to his disability, was not taken away from Vyselki village and was released on recognizance not to leave.\nUpdate. On February 15, 2022, the court chose a measure of restraint for Vitaliy Ushakov in the form of detention for a period of 2 months. Three days later, his wife was searched again. On February 21, the believer is planned to be transferred to the pre-trial detention center in the city of Krasnodar.\nAleksey Shubnikov, Valeriy Vichkayev and Yevgeniy Bochko were given a ban on certain actions: believers are not allowed to use the telephone, the Internet, leave their area of residence, communicate with defendants in a criminal case and, in general, with Jehovah's Witnesses.\nAccording to updated data, on February 13, 2022, at least 31 searches were carried out in the Kuban. In addition to the villages of Vyselki and Berezanskaya, raids took place in the villages of Buzinovskaya, Novodonetskaya, Zhuravskaya, the village of Gazyr, the village of Zarya, and the Beysuzhek the Second farm, including 75-year-old and 81-year-old believers. In total, the searches affected at least 51 people, including those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses. In one case, an elderly woman, about 85 years of age, was subjected to a three-hour search. Electronic devices, bank cards and personal records were confiscated from believers.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2022-02-13T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_a40cecf496601106.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_59b3c42f7ba1668c.jpg","webp":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_3fcbebbe31916c7c.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/handcuffs3_hu_ec97b38ee75f388c.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2022/02/151600.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","interrogation","new-case","ivs","recognizance-agreement","disability","282.2-1"],"title":"Mass Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses Took Place in Kuban. At Least One Believer Was Sent to Jail","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 30, 2021, residents of Berezovsky, Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk, were released, having completely served the sentence imposed by the court in a correctional colony in Novosibirsk. For the long-awaited meeting with them, relatives, friends and relatives traveled more than 300 kilometers.\nAt the exit from the colony, the believers were greeted with applause by about 30 people, including the wife of Sergey Britvin, Natalya, and the eldest son of Vadim Levchuk. His wife Tatyana and his youngest son were unable to come to Novosibirsk due to illness.\nIn September 2020, the Berezovskiy City Court of the Kemerovo Region sentenced two believers to 4 years in prison for talking to others about the Bible. The court was not embarrassed by any falsifications in the case, or false testimony of witnesses, or the absence of corpus delicti and victims. The appellate instance upheld the verdict.\nDue to the long stay of the believers in the pre-trial detention center, during the investigation, they had to spend about 10 months in the colony during the investigation. De facto, they spent 250 days under house arrest, 700 days in a pre-trial detention center and another 297 days (9 months, 3 weeks and 1 day) in correctional colony No. 3 in Novosibirsk.\nIn prisons, Vadim Levchuk was placed in a punishment cell and under strict conditions of detention on trumped-up charges. Sergey Britvin faced other difficulties. He is a disabled person of the II group and cannot lift more than 2 kilograms, therefore, many everyday tasks are beyond his strength. Prisoners helped Sergey solve everyday problems: for example, they washed his clothes and heated water for him.\nAs the believers themselves said, letters from all over the world were a special source of support for them in the colony. Prisoners were surprised that even those with whom they did not personally know wrote to believers. Vadim Levchuk recalls: \"When 88 letters were brought to me for the first time, I leaned over the window in the cell door to thank the operative. She also leaned over and said: \"Let me at least look at you, otherwise everyone in the letters is interested in how you feel.\"\n“While in prison, Vadim gratefully recalled the smiles of his loyal friends, their support during the court hearings, how they inspired him with applause,” says Tatyana, Vadim's wife.\nIn addition to Levchuk and Britvin, 11 other Jehovah's Witnesses from the Kemerovo region were prosecuted on the basis of religious discrimination, three of them were sentenced to suspended sentences.\nDuring 2021, several anti-records were registered in Russia – in the number of sentences to Jehovah's Witnesses, in their cruelty, as well as in the number of believers in colonies and pre-trial detention centers. However, the end of the year was marked by the ruling of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in defense of believers and the first acquittal.\n","category":"sentence","date":"2021-12-30T14:52:21+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/12/301452/image_hu_30742fe55148d2bb.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/12/301452/image_hu_6f86857e86927cc4.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/12/301452/image_hu_3364bd47a0c2e15b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/12/301452/image_hu_b6ec1fbb4024c853.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/12/301452.html","regions":["kemerovo","novosibirsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["release","disability","letters"],"title":"Vadim Levchuk and Sergey Britvin Released After Concluding their Prison Sentences for a Conviction on Practicing their Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk are released after serving the full 4 years in prison assigned to them by the court.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Levchuk and Britvin in Beryozovsky","date":"2021-12-30T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/beryozovsky2/index.html#20211230","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["life-in-prison","release","letters","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On December 16, 2021, Judge of the Cherkesskiy City Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Din-Islam Chotchaev, found 57-year-old Yelena Menchikova guilty of extremism and sentenced her to 5 years of probation suspended sentence with the payment of all legal costs only for talking about the Bible.\nIn her last speech, the believer said: “My position in life is based on biblical principles, on high moral standards, where there is no place for extremism, violence or hostility. . . . In fact, I am accused of believing in God, that I remain Jehovah's Witness, that I remain loyal to my God. I am accused of communicating on religious topics with other people, more precisely, with my friends. The prosecution mistakenly calls the usual religious activities of a believer a crime.”\nYelena Menchikova is an architect by profession. For about 30 years she has been a disabled person of the II group. Because of the criminal prosecution, her chronic diseases have worsened and new ones have appeared.\nOn December 16, 2019, in Cherkessk, the local FSB department conducted 10 searches of Jehovah's Witnesses, including Menchikova. Almost a year later, on November 12, 2020, she was searched again. As the investigator of the FSB of Russia for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic V. A. Drakin told the believer, on November 3, 2020, he initiated a criminal case against her for participating in the activities of an extremist organization. Four months later, in March 2021, he attracted Menchikova under another article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — the believer was charged with the involvement of a local woman in a banned organization. The Menchikova case was separated into a proceeding from the Albert Batchaev case. On December 6, 2021, he was sentenced to 6 years of suspended sentence.\nThe investigation of Menchikova's case lasted about six months. In the apartment where she lived with her daughter, wiretapping and other technical devices were installed. On April 30, 2021, the case was sent to court. According to the defendant, the case involved an informant who collaborated with law enforcement agencies, gave deliberately false testimony and even presented false material evidence. Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to impose a sentence of 5 years in prison on the believer.\nThe court found Yelena Menchikova guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and involving other persons in it. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on her complete innocence.\nOn October 28, 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that the divine services of Jehovah's Witnesses, their joint rituals and ceremonies do not in themselves constitute a crime under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, despite the liquidation of their legal entities.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-12-16T15:59:30+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/12/161559/image_hu_a2e575895744c665.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/12/161559/image_hu_75723c5b55e3ae07.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/12/161559/image_hu_32307590de466585.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/12/161559/image_hu_ac2e95607a1f69ba.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/12/161559.html","regions":["karachaevo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","disability","282.2-2","282.2-1.1"],"title":"The Court in Cherkessk Sentenced Yelena Menchikova, a Disabled Person of the II Group, to Five Years of Suspended Sentence for Talking About the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"On November 26, 2021 searches were conducted in the resort town of Zheleznovodsk. Officers from the FSB and the Center for Counteracting Extremism entered the homes of what they believe to be Jehovah's Witnesses. A criminal case was initiated against Zinaida Minenko, 82, and she had to sign not to leave agreement.\nInvestigations in the town began around 7 a. m. and lasted from 1 to 5 hours. In several cases, according to believers, operatives planted flash drives with unknown content as well as books from the Federal List of Extremist Materials in their homes. Electronic devices, media, photographs, personal records, and bank cards were taken from the believers; one of the victims had a large amount of personal savings.\nUpdate. In the early morning, the security forces came to Zinaida Minenko, who will turn 82 in January, and read her a search warrant. The believer is a visually impaired group I. The surprise of the elderly woman, who almost can’t see, found it difficult to understand what was happening. A year ago, she was widowed, and now she lives alone, so there was no one to help her. The security officials said that they \u0026ldquo;found\u0026rdquo; a prohibited publication on her. However, according to Zinaida, it was a toss. Without giving her the opportunity to eat or drink water, the operatives took her away to search the garage. The elderly believer became very cold, and later she became ill with her heart. She was taken to a hospital where she was treated and then taken home. According to Zinaida, no one took into account her limitations and age, she felt insulted, not understanding why she was being treated this way. It also became known that the searches affected three women who were not Jehovah's Witnesses.\nBack in 2016, believers in Stavropol Territory reported that security forces were planting prohibited items on them. Sometimes this was clearly recorded by surveillance cameras. As a result, criminal cases were brought against 14 Jehovah's Witnesses from this region for their belief in God. 90-year-old Rimma Vaschenko from Nevinnomyssk was the oldest \"extremist\" in Russia. She died in January 2021, not having had time to defend her good name in court.\n","category":"crime","date":"2021-11-26T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/police_hu_c2b408d29a0866a9.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/police_hu_77177c4f3bb7b17b.jpg","webp":"/news/common/police_hu_38a613f39b8476.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/police_hu_7739329aeb3bcc37.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/12/061134.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","elderly","disability","plant"],"title":"At Least Six Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses Took Place in the Stavropol Territory. A Criminal Case Was Brought Against an 82-Year-Old Visually Impaired Woman","type":"news"},{"body":"At 5 a.m., the investigator of the Akhtuba Interdistrict Investigation Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Astrakhan Region, Sergey Savinich, opened a criminal case against three believers: Sergey Korolev, Rinat Kiramov and Sergey Kosyanenko. Within a couple of hours, searches are being carried out at at least 15 addresses in Akhtubinsk and Znamensk.\nInvestigative actions last from 4 to 10 hours. Telephones, personal records, information carriers and printed publications are seized from believers. Law enforcement officers interrogate at least 15 citizens and make audio recordings of the voices of some of them for later identification.\nHaving knocked on Rinat Kiramov's door, the security forces introduce themselves as neighbors, whom the spouses allegedly flood. Then they break down the door and order the Kiramov family and their guests to lie on the floor. One of them had to remain in this position for more than an hour. Phones, passports and car keys are seized from Kiramov's friends. The security forces open the ceiling in the kitchen, as a result of which its suspension system falls, break the dishes and partially dismantle the panels of the balcony cladding. Law enforcement officers take away all those present for interrogation. Copies of the protocols are not provided to the guests of the Kiramovs, citing the fact that the official search did not take place at their place.\nDuring a search in the Korolevs' house, Sergey's wife's blood pressure rises sharply. One of the law enforcement officers tries to calm her down. The spouses are allowed to have breakfast before taking them away for interrogation. According to the investigator, the believers were monitored and wiretapped. After interrogation, Sergey Korolev is placed in a temporary detention facility.\nAfter a search in another house, the security forces take away for questioning a mother and son, a hearing impaired person of group III. He is experiencing a strong emotional shock, as he cannot hear the investigator well, and he is not provided with a sign language interpreter.\nInvestigators prevent believers from exercising their right not to testify against themselves and their loved ones, interpreting the use of Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation as a refusal to testify.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Korolev and Others in Akhtubinsk","date":"2021-11-09T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/akhtubinsk/index.html#20211109","regions":["astrakhan"],"tags":["new-case","search","interrogation","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The searches that took place in Moscow and Moscow region on October 20, 2021, were not without violations of the rights of special categories of citizens — sick and pensioners. According to eyewitnesses, at times the security forces resorted to groundless threats, and one of the task forces took an unhealthy man away for questioning only because his mother was a Jehovah's Witness.\nAs a reminder, as a result of the raids, three Jehovah's Witnesses were detained, two of them — Roman Mareyev and Sergey Tolokonnikov — were sent to a pre-trial detention center.\nAs the believers said, during the searches, on the whole, the operatives behaved respectfully, but there were exceptions. For example, in one of the cases, the security forces came to a believing woman early in the morning when she was at work. She had to hurriedly return home, because the unexpected visit greatly frightened her sick son, a disabled person of the II group, suffering from mental illness. To avoid aggravating her son's condition, the woman asked law enforcement officers let her son not be present during the search and to wait at her neighbor's, but she was refused. She says: “My son was stressed. He hit the wall with his fist and kept asking: 'Won't you take me away?'\nAlthough the security forces did not want to take the believer's son away for interrogation, at the insistence of their superiors, they nevertheless brought both of them to the police station. “The son was nervous and cried loudly,” the woman said. During the interrogation, the investigators asked the detainees to describe Jehovah's Witnesses, express their \"attitude towards priests,\" and also inform them if they saw fellow believers at home.\nA group of six security officials broke into the apartment of a 71-year-old believer and her husband with diabetes mellitus at 6 a.m. The operatives violently searched woman's room: they threw all things out of the closets and turned over the beds. They confiscated a tablet, a telephone, a hard drive and unbanned editions of the Bible in the Synodal Translation and Archimandrite Macarius' translation from the hostess. Mockery and threats were poured at the believer. The law enforcers said: “You are extremists! You will go to jail. \" After a three-hour search, the spouses were taken for interrogation, despite the elderly woman's poor health and high temperature.\nOn the same morning, a task force of 6 people came to the 83-year-old believer. The officers confiscated from her a laptop, an e-book, a telephone, a Bible in the translation of Archimandrite Macarius, letters, several photographs and a postcard. After an almost 4-hour search, the believer was taken to the police station. The electronic devices were returned to the pensioner on the same day.\nThus, after new searches, already seven believers from Moscow and the Moscow region are in jail. One of them, Sean Pike, faced manifestations of domestic racism there.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2021-11-01T11:03:03+02:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_af9d50ad38809c4e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_9855f7b3bb34416d.jpg","webp":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_31cfdaa728b01de8.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/2020-07-20%20102849_hu_c1b3bcdae15553fb.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/11/011103.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","disability","sizo","interrogation","elderly"],"title":"During Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow, Security Forces Detained a Disabled Person with a Mental Disorder and Threatened the Elderly","type":"news"},{"body":"On October 11, 2021, Olga Marchenko, judge of the Pavlovskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory, found Vladimir Skachidub, a 59-year-old Jehovah's Witness, guilty of extremism. For peaceful convictions, he was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in a general regime colony. The believer is taken into custody.\nAddressing the last word before the announcement of the verdict to the court, Vladimir said: “Your honor, no matter what decision you make, my conscience is clear. I did not do any harm either against people or against the state. And in the eyes of God I will come out of here justified. \" The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed.\nOn April 29, 2020, the security forces searched the house of the Skachidub family and 8 other residents of the Krasnodar villages of Pavlovskaya and Kholmskaya. Almost 2 months later, officers of the FSB of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory opened a criminal case against Vladimir Skachidub. He was accused of peaceful talks about the Bible with fellow believers, which the investigation considered \"dangerous for society and the state.\"\nThe investigative department of the FSB of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory investigated the case against the believer for six months. On December 17, 2020, the case was sent to court. During the hearing, the prosecution was unable to present a single evidence of the believer's dangerous acts and not a single victim.\nVladimir Skachidub is a disabled person of the III group, and his wife, Galina, is a disabled person of the II group. The criminal prosecution worsened the health of the spouses. For more than a year, Vladimir Skachidub was under recognizance agreement. After the verdict was announced, the believer was handcuffed. Until the appeal decision, Vladimir will be detained in a pre-trial detention center.\nIn total, 11 criminal cases were initiated in the Krasnodar Territory against 16 believers. Five of them have already been convicted and received real prison terms. The most severe punishment — 7.5 years in a colony — was received by a 63-year-old resident of the village of Kholmskaya, Alexandr Ivshin. “It seems that some judges in the Krasnodar Territory show particular hatred towards Jehovah's Witnesses. In many other Russian regions, believers are given suspended sentences for the same actions — Bible discussions and joint prayers. Although such verdicts are also unjust, at least people are not deprived of their freedom and do not risk losing the remnants of their health in the dungeons, ” — says Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nForeign and Russian jurists are outraged by the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses. In a joint statement, Russian human rights activists note: \"If society does not protect Jehovah's Witnesses, if they are not restored to their rights, this will mean that anyone can be declared an extremist.\"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-10-11T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/10/120818/image_hu_d629482f6c11b286.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/10/120818/image_hu_856f506582695f42.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/10/120818/image_hu_1e9f1ec6b1f16c1b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/10/120818/image_hu_4ca7a35be3813fba.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/10/120818.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","liberty-deprivation","282.2-1","282.2-2","disability"],"title":"Krasnodar Court Sentenced Vladimir Skachidub, a Believer with a Disability, to Four Years in Prison for Talking About the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"On August 28, 2021, after a request from the European Court of Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders, as well as a medical examination, the court released Aleksandr Lubin and Anatoliy Isakov from the pre-trial detention center. For about 1.5 months, believers with disabilities were kept in conditions of torture that threaten their lives.\nOn July 13 and 14, 2021, in Kurgan and Shadrinsk (Kurgan Region), security forces conducted mass searches of Jehovah's Witnesses. Several believers were detained. 56-year-old Anatoliy Isakov and 65-year-old Aleksandr Lubin were taken into custody by a court decision.\nBoth believers were assigned the II group of disability due to serious illnesses, and the conditions of detention in the pre-trial detention center threatened their lives and were comparable to torture. Anatoliy Isakov was diagnosed with cancer of the blood, multiple compression fractures of the spine, ribs and other diseases. Due to the fact that he was behind bars, his course of chemotherapy was interrupted. Also, the believer was deprived of vital potent medicine, in connection with which Anatoliy experienced unbearable pain. He cannot walk without a wheelchair. Before the criminal prosecution, a believer, on average, needed hospitalization 6 times a year. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Anatoliy Isakov was infected with COVID-19 in the pre-trial detention center.\nAleksandr Lubin has several diagnoses: a serious vascular disease, hypertension, as well as an autoimmune disease that affects various organs. In addition to medical treatment, he needs humidified oxygen for 16 hours every day — during his imprisonment, Aleksandr was deprived of all this. It is difficult for a believer to walk, and in the event of a fall, he is unable to rise without assistance. Aleksandr's wife, Tatyana, also has a disability group II (she suffered 4 strokes). The arrest of her husband endangered her health as well — her legs began to fail, she had problems with speech.\nWhen deciding to choose a measure of restraint for believers, the judges relied on the certificates of the doctors of the Kurgan Regional Clinical Hospital, according to which Lubin and Isakov have no illnesses that prevent them from being held in the pre-trial detention center. The defense sent petitions to the Kurgan City Court with a request to replace it with a preventive measure not related to detention, but the court ignored them. Also, in view of the serious health condition of the believers, the lawyers demanded that the leadership of Detention Centre No.1 send Lubin and Isakov for a medical examination, however, this was ignored. On August 6, the Kurgan Regional Court did not satisfy the believers' appeals and left them in a pre-trial detention center.\nSince all internal means of the defense had been exhausted, on August 8, 2021, the lawyers lodged complaints with the European Court of Human Rights, together with an application for interim measures in accordance with Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. According to this rule, the ECHR, prior to its decision, may require the application of any preliminary measures in the interests of the parties, especially when there is an imminent threat of irreparable harm to human life and health. The ECHR communicated the complaint and petition to the Russian Government, demanding that the Russian Federation respond urgently.\nAs a result, on August 24, the believers were sent for a medical examination to the same Kurgan Regional Clinical Hospital. This time, the doctors discovered that the illnesses of Lubin and Isakov really impede their further detention. In this regard, the investigator applied to the court with a petition to change the preventive measure in the form of detention to prohibit certain actions. The court granted the petition and released the believers, but since the case has not been closed, they still face prison terms.\nThe decision of the Supreme Court to liquidate legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses in 2017 gave rise to real persecution of ordinary believers. This legal \"collision\", as Tatyana Moskalkova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, put it, cripples the lives of hundreds of people. The number of criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is growing rapidly, dozens of believers are behind bars.\n","category":"victory","date":"2021-08-31T09:34:22+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/08/310934/image_hu_454a332a35d98814.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/08/310934/image_hu_41bd1abbc67e0a5d.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/08/310934/image_hu_f112bb286b6c8e97.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/08/310934/image_hu_614213935f021b6e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/08/310934.html","regions":["kurgan"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["echr","prohibition-of-actions","disability"],"title":"After a Complaint of Jehovah's Witnesses to the ECHR, Two Seriously Ill Residents of Kurgan Were Released From Custody","type":"news"},{"body":"The court releases Anatoly Isakov from the pre-trial detention center and, at the request of the investigator, chooses a measure of restraint for the believer in the form of a ban on certain actions.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-08-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210828","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","prohibition-of-actions","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On July 28, 2021 the panel of judges of the Primorsky Krai Court, chaired by Svetlana Gumenchuk, approved the verdict for Lyudmila Shut on appeal. The disabled person from the village of Razdolnoye was sentenced to 4 years of suspended imprisonment with probation for 3 years and restriction of freedom for 1 year for reading and discussing the Bible.\nOn May 19, 2021 Nadezhdinsky district court of Primorskiy region found Lyudmila Shut guilty of \"committing crime according to part 2 Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation\" (participation in activity of prohibited organization). The court sentenced her to four years of suspended imprisonment. The believer received such a verdict because she had participated in peaceful religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses and talked to others about God. The believer appealed the verdict because she considers herself completely innocent.\n\"I will not make excuses, because I never understood what exactly I am being judged for. My conscience is clear before God and before people... In the indictment there are no facts of the crimes of which I am accused. It turns out that I am being accused for the fact that I try to live honestly, respect and observe the laws of the state and do no harm to anyone,\" said Lyudmila in her last speech during the appeal hearing.\nNevertheless, the appeal panel of three judges decided to uphold the conviction. The believer has the right to appeal it in cassation, as well as in international instances.\nThe criminal prosecution of Lyudmila Shut began on July 19, 2018, when searches were conducted in the homes of local Jehovah's Witnesses in the village of Razdolnoye. After that, Lyudmila was summoned for questioning several times over a year and a half. Investigator Denis Shevchenko opened a criminal case against her on 10 February 2020.\nWitnesses in the Shut case, according to their statements, were subjected to pressure from the security forces, the investigative measures were carried out with violations of the rules of jurisdiction, and the court during the hearings considered the conclusions of a specialist who is not an expert in the field of law.\nDuring the entire investigation Liudmila Shut was under house arrest. After 5 months of court proceedings, the state prosecutor called off judge Natalia Derevyagina, and Lyudmila Setrakova was appointed the new judge. The believer, who can move around only with the help of others or on crutches, was forced to go through all stages of the trial anew. The prosecution worsened Lyudmila's health, her eyesight deteriorated and she needed an operation. After the interrogations, she repeatedly had to call an ambulance.\nAlready 36 residents of Primorye are trapped in the grip of the Russian judicial system simply for their belief in their God Jehovah. In March 2021 Lyudmila's fellow villager, 77-year-old Vladimir Filippov, was sentenced to 6 years of suspended imprisonment for participating in peaceful worship services.\nRussian and foreign activists and organizations unanimously condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. Vladimir Ryakhovsky, Honorary Advocate of Russia, Member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights: \"It always started with Jehovah's Witnesses and then reflected on everyone.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-08-25T00:00:00Z","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/08/251431/image_hu_6270734ac81fbfe0.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/08/251431/image_hu_fc6084083d35a8d7.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/08/251431/image_hu_28def80d70d750b7.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/08/251431/image_hu_5d5a41683873c5b7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/08/251431.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","suspended","282.2-2","elderly","disability"],"title":"Appeal in Vladivostok Approved the Sentence of Four Years of Conditional Imprisonment for a 73-Year-Old Believer","type":"news"},{"body":"The ECHR sends a request to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. Lawyers also appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Kurgan Region, after which the Commissioner initiates an urgent inspection.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-08-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210810","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","echr","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Lawyers file a complaint with the ECHR about the detention of a believer despite his serious health condition.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-08-08T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210808","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","echr","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The defense re-submits a petition to the Kurgan Regional Court demanding that Isakov's preventive measure be changed or canceled without delay.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-07-28T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210728","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The believer's lawyer files an appeal with the Department of Health of the Kurgan Region against the chosen measure of restraint and asks for it to be canceled. The detention of a believer in a pre-trial detention center poses a threat to his life and health. In the complaint, the lawyer notes: \"Such conditions cause systematic and daily pain, comparable to the torture and torture of a person in old age, since the pain intensifies and becomes unbearable at times, and the threat to life and health becomes real.\" The arrest interrupts the chemotherapy that the believer has been undergoing since July 5, 2021. The treatment was supposed to end on July 25, 2021. All this poses a threat to the life of Anatoly Isakov.\nHe also asks for the prosecution of the doctor who misled the court about Isakov's state of health, concluding that he could be detained.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-07-21T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210721","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","disability","health-risk"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On July 19, 2021, the judge of the Leninskiy District Court of Kirov, Sergey Shvaytser, sentenced 30-year-old Andrey Shchepin to a fine of 500,000 rubles, 60-year-old Aleksandr Shamov - 420,000 rubles, and 72-year-old Yevgeniy Udintsev - 200,000 rubles.\nThe guilt of the convicts lies in the fact that they did not stop believing in Jehovah and talking about the Bible, which the court considered the organization of an extremist community. Initially, the believers were also accused of financing the extremist community, but later the prosecutor dropped this charge. Believers insist on their complete innocence. The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed in the appellate court.\nOn the morning of March 26, 2019, a series of searches took place in the homes of Kirov residents. On the same day, the Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Kirov Region opened a criminal case against the three men. The investigation lasted just over 9 months. The investigation relied on the testimony of the witness Potekhin, an employee of the Center for Combating Extremism (CPE). Later it turned out that about half of his testimony, recorded in the protocol by the investigator, coincided with the article on Jehovah's Witnesses from Wikipedia, along with typos and errors in it. As it turned out, the special services also sent an agent named Plastin to the believers, who, pretending to be interested in the Bible, secretly recorded conversations with the accused and worship services. Later, already at the stage of the court hearings, which lasted 1 year and 3 months, a secret witness was questioned, claiming that he was Jehovah's Witness. At the same time, he referred to publications that believers have not used for a long time. Two other prosecution witnesses stated that their testimony was completed by the investigator. There was not a single victim in the case.\nDespite the inconsistencies in the case, the state prosecutor Kolosova asked for severe punishment for the defendants: Shchepin and Shamov – to 4 and 2 years in a general regime colony, respectively, and Udintsev – to a fine of 600 000 rubles.\nIt is paradoxical that Andrey Shchepin, whom the investigation accused of inciting religious hatred, calls for violence and disobedience to the authorities, at one time, out of peaceful convictions, achieved alternative civilian service instead of serving in the army, which he served for 21 months. At the same time, he had the opportunity to get a military ID if he agreed to participate in military training for just a month. The case materials contain positive characteristics of a young believer from a gymnasium, from a place of alternative civilian service, from work and from an elder at home. In them, Andrey is called a non-conflict and non-aggressive person, always ready to help.\nDuring the criminal prosecution, the rights and freedoms of believers were limited. After being detained, Andrey Shchepin spent two days in a temporary detention facility, after which he was banned from certain actions for 2 years and 4 months, and later under recognizance not to leave. All of this made it difficult for Andrey to help his wife take care of a mother who needed special care due to her disability.\nAleksandr Shamov himself is on a disability pension, recovering from a heart attack and heart surgery.\nEvgeniy Udintsev's health also leaves much to be desired: in June 2020, he was forced to leave the meeting due to poor health. Despite the fact that Udintsev is at risk due to age, prosecutor Kolosova, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, insisted on continuing the meetings in person. The believer was under recognizance not to leave until the verdict was pronounced.\nEarlier in the Kirov region, another Jehovah's Witness, Anatoly Tokarev , was fined 500,000 rubles. Now the case of seven more Kirov believers is pending in court (one of them, Yuriy Geraskov, died under investigation).\nIn July 2020, at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 30 member States criticized the repression of Jehovah's Witnesses by the Russian authorities. Their joint statement reads: \"All people, including Jehovah's Witnesses, must be able to peacefully exercise their rights, including the right to freedom of religion, peaceful assembly and expression without discrimination, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Russia's OSCE commitments and international law.\"\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-07-19T16:07:37+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/07/191607/image_hu_bbf4c697dc448691.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/07/191607/image_hu_bc43656d94d89e87.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/07/191607/image_hu_b744e3a4305418b5.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/07/191607/image_hu_4c373859eed250d5.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/07/191607.html","regions":["kirov"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","fine","282.2-1","disability","elderly"],"title":"In Kirov, Andrey Shchepin, Aleksandr Shamov and Yevgeniy Udintsev Got Big Fines for Their Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"The lawyer files an appeal to the Kurgan Regional Court against the chosen preventive measure of Anatoly Isakov. According to the lawyer, the believer must be released from the pre-trial detention center.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-07-19T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210719","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","disability","appeal"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Judge of the Kurgan City Court Yevgeny Kolesov chooses Lubin a measure of restraint in the form of detention for a period of 2 months - until September 13.\nNeither the investigator nor the court take into account that the believer has a group II disability. According to the submitted medical certificates, Lubin's detention in the pre-trial detention center poses a real danger to his health and life.\nSince 2018, he has been in need of planned hospitalization. So, in 2020, the believer was treated in a hospital 8 times, and the next planned hospitalization should take place in August 2021. According to the doctors' prescription, Alexander must use an oxygen cylinder for 16 hours a day, which is impossible in an isolation ward. The requirements for prisoners and the daily routine in the pre-trial detention center are an unbearable burden for the believer, since due to constant pain in the hip joints, he can hardly move.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2021-07-16T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20210716","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","disability","elderly","medical-rights","health-risk"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On July 15, 2021, the judge of the Karpinsk City Court of the Sverdlovsk Region Vera Bazuyeva found Aleksandr Prianikov, as well as Venera and Darya Dulova guilty of participating in the activities of a banned organization. Their case was re-tried in the same court after the previous verdict was overturned.\nThe court sentenced Aleksandr Prianikov to 2 years and 6 months suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of two years, Venera Dulova—2 years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 2 years, Darya Dulova—1 year of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 1 year.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believers insist on their complete innocence.\nAt the first consideration of the case in 2020, the prosecutor asked the court to appoint suspended sentences for all three believers. And although there is still not a single victim in the case, this time the state prosecutor insisted on a more severe punishment for Aleksandr and Venera—3 years in prison, and for Darya— 2 years of suspended term.\nVenera Dulova is hearing impaired, caring mother of three, and a loving wife. Her youngest daughter Darya was only 18 years old when a criminal case was opened against her.\nVenera Dulova has been under recognizance agreement since August 2018, and Aleksandr Prianikov since September 2018. The same preventive measure was chosen for Darya on July 24, 2019. This limited the movement of the three until the end of the preliminary investigation in April 2021. In addition, they were included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring, which means the blocking of all their bank accounts.\nRepeated searches and the need to constantly attend court hearings negatively affected their ability to work and provide for themselves and their families financially. “Every time after the search it felt like we were robbed. I had to buy laptops and telephones twice, because I need these devices for my self-employment,” said Aleksandr.\nOn June 14, 2018, the police detained Aleksandr Prianikov and Venera Dulova during a conversation on biblical topics. Their telephones, storage media, personal records were seized in order to check for extremist materials. Copies of passports and other documents were made, and fingerprints were taken.\nSoon, the security forces conducted a series of searches at the Dulovs' house, at the dacha of their relatives, as well as at the Prianikovs' apartment in their absence. During the subsequent interrogation, Venera and Darya were subjected to psychological pressure in order to find out the whereabouts of Prianikov.\nThe case was initiated on July 30, 2018. It was investigated by the Investigation Department in Krasnoturyinsk of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Sverdlovsk Region. The investigation lasted just over a year, after which the case went to court, where for 5 months it was considered by judge Svetlana Gabbasova. In January 2020, Judge Gabbasova found them guilty. All received suspended sentences of up to 2.5 years.\nHowever, on August 6, 2020, the sentence was overturned by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court on appeal. As a result, on August 20, the case was returned to the Karpinsk City Court for reconsideration in a new composition, chaired by Vera Bazuyeva. The new sentences were almost identical to the previous ones.\n“The indictment says a lot about my motives, that I was allegedly driven by hatred, I realized that my actions would be harmful. In fact, this is slander. It is impossible to ascribe such motives to me without having an ounce of evidence of this. On the contrary, my sincere desire to help people prompts me to talk about God and the Bible,” said Aleksandr Prianikov in his last plea.\nIn her appeal to the court, Darya Dulova noted: “I think you will agree, Your Honor, that this is the dream of any law enforcement agency: people who are ready at any time to come to the aid of their neighbors, non-conflict and non-aggressive. And these people are being persecuted now.”\n“I am worried that huge funds and efforts are directed not against real extremists, but against young students, pensioners, mothers of many children, fathers of families,” Venera Dulova emphasized in her last word.\nIn court testimony, believers have repeatedly emphasized how Bible teachings have positively influenced their lives. Faith helped them to become responsible and peaceful citizens, to break off with bad association, to become more patient and kind. However, the prosecution continues to insist that the peaceful confession of Aleksandr Prianikov, Venera and Darya Dulova of their faith is a dangerous crime for society and the state.\nMeanwhile, in 2020, the Dulovs and Aleksandr Prianikov became involved in another criminal case for faith. More serious charges were brought against them: Venera and Darya were charged with recruiting into an extremist organization, and Aleksandr with organizing extremist activities and involving minors into it. Aleksandr's wife Anastasia was also among the accused, as were Svetlana Zalyaeva and her husband. The second case went to the same court on April 29, 2021.\n“All people, including members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, must be able to peacefully enjoy their human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of association and peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, without discrimination. […] We therefore call on the Russian Federation to conduct prompt, effective and thorough investigations into all reports of such acts,” the European Union statement said.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-07-15T23:48:18+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/07/161427/image_hu_cffe7038204a22e3.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/07/161427/image_hu_c91fe60e3c25f842.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/07/161427/image_hu_aa76e47c1d896326.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/07/161427/image_hu_375cf2364ce78376.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/07/161427.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["retrial","suspended","sentence","282.2-2","families","disability"],"title":"The Re-Examination of the Criminal Case for Faith in Karpinsk is Over. Defendants Received Suspended Sentences from 1 to 2.5 Years","type":"news"},{"body":"Nikolay Astapov officially prosecutes Anatoliy Isakov as a defendant under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.\nThe judge of the Kurgan City Court A. N. Schneider chooses a measure of restraint for Anatoly Isakov in the form of imprisonment in a pre-trial detention center for 2 months. The court does not take into account the serious state of health of the accused.\nIn the pre-trial detention center, prisoners are obliged to follow the requirements of the pre-trial detention center, including physical activity, which Isakov cannot perform due to his health condition: he can hardly move, and it is beyond his power to walk in the ranks and keep the speed of movement.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-07-15T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210715","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["sizo","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"The Isakovs' apartment and country house, as well as their daughter's apartment, are being searched with the participation of officers of the Border Guard Service of the FSB of Russia in the Kurgan and Tyumen regions. Bibles in various translations, Bible reference books and dictionaries, books by Russian religious scholars, autobiographies of Jehovah's Witnesses who were prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, as well as letters, photographs, notebooks with personal notes, bank cards and documents are seized from the believer. In addition, the security forces take away the printer, electronic devices and storage media.\nDuring the search, one of the security officials demands that the believer's wife, Tatyana, \"tell us about everything,\" threatening her and her daughter with dismissal from their jobs.\nThe believer is a disabled person of group II: he is struggling with oncology, needs regular hospitalization (approximately every 2 months) and constant intake of potent prescription drugs. Despite his diagnoses, he is left in custody in a temporary detention facility, where he spends the night.\nThat same morning, they came to the house of the Minsafin family with a search. The first unexpected guests are noticed by their minor daughter. Opening the door, Valery sees 10 people. Investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Kurgan Region, Alexei Tretyakov, presents a court order to conduct a search.\nThe security forces consistently search every room, as well as the basement, bathhouse, summer kitchen, car and land. They seize electronic devices, bank cards, flash drives, a printer, Bibles in various translations, a Bible game, an encyclopedia, and personal records. A technician tries to unlock smartphones and tablets.\nFrom stress, Valeriy's wife has high blood pressure. The security forces allow Valeriy to eat and pack his things, after which they take him to the Investigative Committee for interrogation. There he is provided with a lawyer.\nThe investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Kurgan Region, T. V. Kononova, detains and sends the believer to the temporary detention facility in Kurgan for 48 hours.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Isakov and Minsafin in Kurgan","date":"2021-07-14T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kurgan2/index.html#20210714","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["search","ivs","interrogation","minors","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Jehovah's Witnesses from Karpinsk, Alexander Pryanikov, Venera, and Daria Dulov, delivered their final statements in court. The verdict is scheduled for July 15, 2021\n","category":"trial","date":"2021-07-13T18:38:57+03:00","duration":null,"image":false,"permalink":"/en/news/2021/07/131838.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["final-statement","first-instance","families","disability"],"title":"","type":"news"},{"body":"Nikolay Astapov, an investigator for particularly important cases of the First Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Kurgan Region, initiates a criminal case against Alexander Lubin and unidentified persons under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The investigation interprets peaceful meetings of believers as \"actions of an organizational nature aimed at the continuation and resumption of the activities of a banned organization.\"\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Lubin in Shadrinsk","date":"2021-07-13T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/shadrinsk/index.html#20210713","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-1","282.2-2","disability","elderly"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On June 11, 2021, in the town of Asha, Chelyabinsk Region, several apartments of local believers were searched. After interrogations, the believers were released.\nUpdate. According to updated data, five families of Jehovah's Witnesses in Asha and neighboring Minyar (Chelyabinsk Region) were searched. On June 9, 2021, Oksana Makarenko, judge of the Tractorozavodsky District Court of Chelyabinsk, issued an order to search the home of 49-year-old Andrey Perminov, a disabled person, as part of a criminal case under part 1 Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code. The believer moves around in a wheelchair and can't do without assistance.\nAt 6:30 a.m. there was a knock at the door of Perminovs' couple. Guests introduced themselves as employees of the housing management company. Five people, headed by an investigator for particularly important cases Yevgeny Dolgayev and accompanied by two riot policemen and an employee of the management company, entered the apartment. The search lasted about two and a half hours, during which Andrey was forced to stay in bed. They confiscated electronic devices, bank cards, data storage devices, and personal records.\nOnly after the search, Andrey was allowed to get dressed and get into his wheelchair. Due to the believer's state of health, the interrogation was conducted on the spot. The law enforcers were asked, \"How can you explain the lectures found in your possession about the worship of Jehovah God?\" During the interrogation, the couple used Article 51 of the Russian Constitution, even though Natalia was threatened that she would be put in jail for it. The Perminovs experienced severe stress, a sense of helplessness, and fear for their family's future.\nAnother local believer, 28-year-old Andrey Fedorov, had his car alarm go off at 5:30 in the morning. When he went out to check if everything was all right, he was attacked from behind and laid face down on the pavement. Eight law enforcers, two of whom were FSB officers in camouflage and with guns, put Andrey, his wife, and his sister against the wall and read the search warrant. Electronic devices, data carriers, personal records, and bank card were seized from them.\nSimultaneously, law enforcers searched the neighboring house, where Andrey's father, 52-year-old Vadim Fedorov, lives. That morning there were only two underage children and their grandmother at home. One of the law enforcers threatened Andrey that if he did not report the whereabouts of his father, the children would be taken away by guardianship.\nVadim Fedorov soon arrived from a nearby town, where he was with his wife on business, worried that the family members were not in touch. Law enforcement officers were waiting outside the house for the believer. They reported that in his absence they searched the house and seized a Bible, a computer, a Bible game, and two walkie-talkies.\nAfter the search believers were taken for questioning to the Investigative Committee. They were asked if they knew Andrey Perminov, if they were members of Jehovah's Witnesses organization and if they conducted worship services with the help of Zoom. Vadim was threatened with the fact that if he did not cooperate with the investigation he would ruin his and his children's lives and the \"extremist\" article would become a \"stigma for life.\" The believers took advantage of Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and were released 20 minutes later.\nThe raid in Asha and Minyar is not the first case of harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses from the Chelyabinsk region. Dmitry Vinogradov was recently convicted for his belief in God.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2021-06-11T14:03:39+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/omon_hu_cc21e0c1b202fec1.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/omon_hu_ffc696cb236da5bb.jpg","webp":"/news/common/omon_hu_4c87d2ce782042cd.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/omon_hu_9c4da176cf33a608.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/06/111403.html","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","disability","interrogation","elderly","minors"],"title":"Police Raids Jehovah's Witnesses in Asha, Chelyabinsk Region","type":"news"},{"body":"In the town of Asha, Chelyabinsk Region, and neighboring Minyar, searches are being conducted at the homes of 5 families of Jehovah's Witnesses. A search warrant for a disabled person of group I, 49-year-old Andrey Perminov, was issued by the judge of the Traktorozavodsky District Court of Chelyabinsk, Oksana Makarenko. Operational activities are supervised by investigator Dolgaev.\nElectronic devices, storage media, bank cards, notebooks with personal notes, a Bible, a homemade Bible game, walkie-talkies, in one case a tape recorder and a CD with songs are seized from believers. During the searches, video is being filmed. Then the believers are interrogated by the Investigative Committee.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Perminov in Asha","date":"2021-06-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/asha/index.html#20210611","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["search","disability","interrogation"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On May 19, 2021 the judge of Nadezhdinskiy District Court of Primorye Territory Lyudmila Setrakova found the disabled woman Lyudmila Shut guilty of participation in activities of extremist organization. A pensioner from the village of Razdolnoe was sentenced to four years of suspended imprisonment.\nThe verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on her complete innocence.\nThough there were no victims in the case, the court fully satisfied the prosecutor's recommendation: the state prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to four years of suspended imprisonment with a probation period of three years and one year of restricted freedom. The state prosecutor also asked to deprive the believer of the right to engage in activities related to participation in public organizations for 4 years. She has been kept on her own recognizance for over a year.\nLyudmila could hardly move on crutches. Since she was a little girl she did a lot of hard physical labor, helping her mother with household chores. During her life she worked as a turner, milkmaid, headed a warehouse and was manager of a state farm. She was widowed 18 years ago. She has three children and three grandchildren. Criminal prosecution further undermined her health, her eyesight deteriorated and she needed an operation. After the interrogations she repeatedly had to call an ambulance.\nIn her final statement, Lyudmila Shut said: \"I have the right to be a religious person! I do not agree with the charges. I am not a criminal and not an extremist. I do not know such a scary word at all, it is alien to me and completely contradicts my religious views.\"\nOn July 19, 2018, searches were conducted in the homes of believers from the village of Razdolnoye, after which Lyudmila Shut was summoned for interrogations several times over the course of a year and a half. On February 10, 2020, investigator Denis Shevchenko opened a criminal case against her. The investigation lasted about 3 months, it was led by the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Primorye Territory.\nSince November 2017 there was hidden video recording of worship services in the settlement of Razdolnoye. Later, based on the materials of operational investigative activities, law enforcement officers concluded that some believers were allegedly the leaders of the banned organization, and others were participants, including Lyudmila Shut. However, while watching these recordings in court, the participants of the trial were convinced that the believers did not speak about their superiority over members of other faiths at the services, as the prosecutor claimed.\nOn April 28, 2020, Lyudmila Shut's case was brought to the Nadezhdinskiy District Court for consideration by judge Natalia Derevyagina. After 5 months of hearings, the state prosecutor challenged the judge, pointing out that she had previously assessed Shut's actions as a witness in another believer's case. The new judge, Lyudmila Setrakova, actually started the trial all over again, and the elderly believer on crutches had to go through all stages of the trial again.\nIn their testimony in court, witnesses in Shut's case confirmed that the Supreme Court decision did not ban Jehovah's Witnesses from holding meetings. They also gave a positive characteristic of Lyudmila and said that they had never heard extremist statements from her.\nA total of 36 people from Primorye were taken to the millstone of the judicial system just for believing in Jehovah's God. Lyudmila's fellow villager, 77-year-old Vladimir Filippov, has already received a 6-year suspended sentence for participating in peaceful worship services.\nThe OSCE, the European Union, Russian human rights activists and many others condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.\n","category":"verdict","date":"2021-05-19T13:40:32+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2021/05/191340/image_hu_810ad76c4df4c7df.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2021/05/191340/image_hu_762a68027e2be73.jpg","webp":"/news/2021/05/191340/image_hu_f20b94bb7a6ac5bd.webp","webp2x":"/news/2021/05/191340/image_hu_7c76a9f5eda03c1a.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/05/191340.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["sentence","suspended","elderly","282.2-2","disability"],"title":"In Razdolnoe Village a 73-Year-Old Believer Lyudmila Shut Received a 4-Year Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"On April 2, 2021, a series of searches took place in Jehovah's Witnesses homes in the city of Taiga (Kemerovo Region). Yuriy Usanov, 29, was arrested and sent to a pre-trial detention center in the city of Anzhero-Sudzhensk. A criminal case was opened against him under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; three pensioners are witnesses in the case.\nEarly in the morning on April 2, a search took place in Yuriy Usanov's apartment, after which he stopped communicating. His worried friends came to his house and found that the bars had been removed from the window, and the glass had been broken. Police was on duty at the entrance. As seen from the case files, the believer \"committed actions of an organizational nature aimed at the continuation and renewal of the illegal activities of the banned organization 'Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia' in the form of convening meetings with the participation of residents of the city of Taiga.\"\nOn April 2, the judge of the Taiga City Court of the Kemerovo Region F. V. Timofeev chose a preventive measure for Yuriy Usanov in the form of arrest until May 30. He is currently held in SIZO-4 of Anzhero-Sudzhensk.\nIn the apartments of 72-year-old Nataliya Kozlova and 65-year-old Zinaida Vasina, visually impaired, law enforcement officers entered under a disguise of their neighbors. Once inside, they announced: \"We are looking for everything connected with your God Jehovah.\" The searches lasted about 3 hours. Electronic devices, Bibles in various translations, personal notes, postcards with the words \"God\" and \"Jehovah\", bank cards and a Wi-Fi router were seized from Nataliya and Zinaida. The women were then taken to the investigative committee for questioning. The security forces were waiting for 69-year-old Lyudmila Gorovaya near her house, from where she was taken for interrogation, which lasted 3 hours.\nThe investigator was interested in whether the women knew Yuriy Usanov, whether they gave him money, whether he offered them literature, whether he involved them in any organization. The siloviki threatened the pensioners that their relatives would have problems at work. Older women have experienced severe stress.\nThe searches were carried out by officers of the FSB and the Investigative Committee on the basis of a decree issued by the Deputy Head of the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Major of Justice Y. V. Dudin. Yuriy Usanov became the 8th citizen of the Kemerovo region who was subjected to religious discrimination for believing in Jehovah.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2021-04-05T15:41:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/depositphotos_21862193_hu_c1ba1fe0fba8de81.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/depositphotos_21862193.jpg","webp":"/news/common/depositphotos_21862193_hu_6352a6d9befce345.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/depositphotos_21862193_hu_7dda90e3b5ffe468.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2021/04/4.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","new-case","282.2-1","disability","elderly","interrogation","sizo"],"title":"A new wave of raids against Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Kemerovo Region. Yuriy Usanov, 29, is arrested in the town of Tayga","type":"news"},{"body":"Lyudmila Shut from Razdolnoye village ( Primorye Territory) is being tried for her faith under the article on participation in the extremist organization's activities. Already on September 21, 2020 in Nadezhdinskoye district court, the state prosecutor is likely to request punishment for her, and after that the court will leave to the consulting room for sentencing.\nThe surveillance of the believers in Razdolnoye village began in the fall of 2017. The investigation was conducted by the Russian Investigative Committee for the Primorye Territory. Criminal cases were opened and the believers were charged with leading or participating in the activities of the banned organization. In February 2020 investigator Denis Shevchenko opened a criminal case against Lyudmila Shut based on suspicions of her participation in an extremist organization (part 2 of Article 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code).\nIn the prosecution's opinion, Lyudmila Shut, \"acting deliberately... anticipating the coming of socially dangerous consequences... wishing to do so on the grounds of religious hatred, acting out of extremist motives... participated in.... meetings\". The case was brought to court in April 2020. Judge Natalia Derevyagina listens to it. At least 7 court sessions on the merits took place.\nLyudmila Shut is old enough to be mother of most investigators. She is an invalid of group II, can not move around on her own, and even with the help of others needs crutches. All her guilt comes down to peaceful chanting, reading the Bible, praying and talking about God. Nevertheless, law enforcement officers seek for her severe punishment under part 2 of Article 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code (fine, forced labor or imprisonment for up to 6 years with loss of rights).\n\"It is alien to me as one of Jehovah's Witness to show hatred and enmity,\" Lyudmila said in court. \"Jehovah's Witnesses around the world are known for their peacefulness, they don't take up arms... If all people as Jehovah's Witnesses refused to fight, there would be no wars, no terrorist acts and no extremism in the world.\"\nRepression of Jehovah's Witnesses is particularly active in Primorye Territory, with about 30 people involved in various cases. Many of them are women and elderly people. The oldest of them is 86 years old.\n","category":"trial","date":"2020-09-11T16:02:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/09/6/image_hu_ef51031dd0abeed5.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/09/6/image.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/09/6/image_hu_b7675543c40f5e6.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/09/6/image_hu_1c80fa55bafa87c9.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/09/6.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["first-instance","disability","elderly"],"title":"In the city of Primorye, the trial of a 72-year-old believer is drawing to a conclusion. Being disabled, she commutes to court hearings using her crutches","type":"news"},{"body":"On July 11th in Kaliningrad, armed security services conducted a series of searches of believers. At least 12 people were taken to the FSB department in Kaliningrad for interrogation. A criminal case has been initiated against Mikhail Kopytov, 52. Whether anyone remains in custody is still unknown.\nThe raids on the believers started around 3 p.m. local time. The believers were taken to the local administration building of the Federal Security Service. Among them - 27-year-old Myslyon Igor, 57-year-old Nikolai Ter-Avanesov, 52-year-old Mikhail Kopytov. Most of the detainees have already been released. The exact number of addresses that were raided is not yet known. Whether or not any of the detainees are in custody is being clarified.\nAccording to preliminary information, the reason for the special events was a criminal case under the \"extremist\" article against Mikhail Kopytov.\nKaliningrad region became the 57th region where law enforcers persecute Jehovah's Witnesses solely for their faith, despite the fact that this religion is not prohibited in Russia.\nUpdate. The initiation of a criminal case under the article \u0026ldquo;organization of extremist activity\u0026rdquo; against Mikhail Kopytov was confirmed. 11 people were taken for questioning and released. Searches were carried out at least 6 families of believers, including a disabled person of group I. During the searches, electronic devices, bank cards, Bibles of various translations (Synodal and Modern), postcards and photographs were seized from peaceful believers. In some cases, believers note that the authorities treated them tactlessly. ","category":"siloviki","date":"2020-07-13T13:58:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/police_hu_c2b408d29a0866a9.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/police_hu_77177c4f3bb7b17b.jpg","webp":"/news/common/police_hu_38a613f39b8476.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/police_hu_7739329aeb3bcc37.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/07/11.html","regions":["kaliningrad"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","interrogation","new-case","282.2-1","disability"],"title":"In Kaliningrad, the FSB Detained at Least 12 People for Interrogation. The Authorities Already Support Religious Persecution in 57 Regions","type":"news"},{"body":"On July 12, 2020, FSB officers conducted searches of Jehovah's Witnesses in Prokopievsk. Andrei Vlasov, 51, who has a disability, was detained for 2 days and is in an isolation ward in Kemerovo. The news is being updated.\nA number of believers were taken for interrogation to the FSB department on Komsomolskaya Street in Prokopyevsk. Among them is 69-year-old Viktor Mikhnyuk, who recently suffered a stroke. In the evening he was released.\nIt is known that on July 2, 2020 the investigation department of the FSB of Russia in the Kemerovo region - Kuzbass initiated a criminal case against believers under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code. Four days later, on 6 July, Judge Irina Ivanova from the Central District Court of Kemerovo, on the request of FSB investigator I. A. Sablin, authorized the searches.\nUpdate. On July 14, 2020, Andrey Vlasov, after two days behind bars, was sentenced to a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest. Two days earlier, a search was conducted in the house where he lives with his wife Natalya, the FSB confiscated electronics and Bibles. A search was also carried out at Andrey\u0026rsquo;s workplace. Natalya was interrogated in the investigators\u0026rsquo; offices. The spouses Yuriy and Elena Chernykh were also questioned; the search in their house took place at the same time as the Vlasovs. Viktor Mikhnyuk\u0026rsquo;s apartment — while he was being interrogated in the police station building — was broken into and searched without his presence. Earlier at least three criminal cases had already been initiated against Jehovah's Witnesses in Kemerovo region. The case of Kogut in Berezovskoye and the case of Levchuk and Britvin in Berezovskoye are investigated by the FSB, while the case of Yavushkin and Bondarchuk in Kemerovo is investigated by the Investigative Committee.\nIt's noteworthy that it's not the first time the FSB has gone to Judge Ivanova for sanctions. Previously, she had issued permits for searches at Berezovskiy and twice extended the period of detention of believers Levchuk and Britvin.\nRussian law enforcers refer to Article 9 of the law \"On countering extremist activities\" and start hundreds of similar criminal cases against civilians who do not harm anyone. In reality, the Supreme Court did not ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, as repeatedly emphasized by Russian authorities, including the Ministry of Justice, the government and President Vladimir Putin.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2020-07-13T10:39:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/search1_hu_702c9b9704ae758a.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/search1_hu_7c3d49c9fecf8054.jpg","webp":"/news/common/search1_hu_9a6e0a4c091b8ea3.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/search1_hu_4ae7e68fe9772eb5.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/07/9.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","ivs","disability","interrogation","elderly"],"title":"A Wave of Searches of Believers in the Kemerovo Region. At Least One Person With Disability Was Detained for 48 Hours","type":"news"},{"body":"Searches are being conducted in at least 6 families of believers, including a disabled person of group I. During the searches, electronic devices, bank cards, Bibles of various translations, postcards and photographs were seized. 11 people, including 27-year-old Igor Myslyon, 57-year-old Nikolai Ter-Avanesov, 52-year-old Mikhail Kopytov, were taken for interrogation to the FSB Directorate and later released.\n","caseTitle":"Kopytov's case in Kaliningrad","date":"2020-07-11T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kaliningrad/index.html#20200711","regions":["kaliningrad"],"tags":["search","interrogation","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Almost 2 months after the searches in the village of Pavlovskaya, officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia in Krasnodar region initiated criminal proceedings against two more believers: 58-year-old Vladimir Skachidub and 39-year-old Maxim Beltikov. Earlier in the village the case was opened against Liudmila Shchekoldina.\nOn June 29th, 2020 the believers were summoned for interrogation. The reason for this was the criminal cases brought under part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of the banned extremist organization). Lieutenant of Justice M. Loi asked Maxim Beltikov about his religious beliefs and belonging to a legal entity banned by the court, local religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses of Pavlovskaya village.\nThe investigator of the same institution, Lieutenant of Justice Vitali Veter questioned Vladimir Skachidub. The next day his wife, who is an invalid of group II, was summoned for interrogation.\nIn the decisions on initiation of criminal cases the investigators use almost identical wording: \"... participated in religious sermons, during which... conducted and listened to lectures based on religious literature, entered into conversations and religious discussions, and participated in collective discussions of the content of religious books\". Believers are suspected of \"being aware of the criminal nature and public danger of their actions,\" exercising \"the role of a preacher.\" They were taken to sign up for not leaving.\nA total of six believers are persecuted in Krasnodar region for their faith in Jehovah. Everyone is accused of extremist activities - this is how law enforcers qualify the peaceful religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which, according to the authorities, was not banned. There are no victims in these criminal cases.\n","category":"trial","date":"2020-07-06T10:38:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/criminal_case_hu_a8c404e2bc8d351e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/criminal_case_hu_314afd7539e86e80.jpg","webp":"/news/common/criminal_case_hu_2ad7449984257986.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/criminal_case_hu_34a0012c7c562f22.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/07/4.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["new-case","282.2-2","interrogation","disability","recognizance-agreement"],"title":"In Krasnodar Region Two More Local Residents Prosecuted for Their Faith. They Are Accused of Preaching","type":"news"},{"body":"Investigator of the Department of the FSB of Russia in the Kemerovo region - Kuzbass, senior lieutenant of justice Ivan Sablin makes a decision to initiate a criminal case against 51-year-old Andrei Vlasov, who has a disability. For his faith, he is suspected of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organizing the activities of an extremist organization).\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Vlasov in Prokopyevsk","date":"2020-07-02T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/prokopevsk/index.html#20200702","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-1","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Early in the morning of February 10, 2020, FSB officers began mass raids against believers in the cities of Chita, Baley, Khilok and Krasnokamensk, the villages of Kurort-Darasun, Pervomaiskoye, Amazar, Duldurga, Yasnogorsk and Verkhnyaya Hila. Vladimir Yermolaev, Oleg Podgrushin, Aleksandr Putintsev, Viktor Reshetov and others were detained.\nUpdate. On the evening of February 12, a judge of the Ingodinsky District Court of Chita sent 31-year-old Vladimir Ermolaev, who had been in custody for more than 60 hours, under house arrest. Three believers remain in custody: 47-year-old Sergey Kirilyuk (married), Pavel Mamalimov (married, has a young daughter), 31-year-old Vadim Kutsenko (married). On the eve of the Investigative Committee reported that more than 30 investigative and operational groups were formed, which simultaneously worked in Chita and the districts of the region. To Alexander and Larisa Vasilyev, who live in Kurort-Darasun together with four children 4, 6, 8 and 16 years old, law enforcement officers invaded early in the morning. During the search, Aleksandr, a group III disabled person, felt unwell, but he was still taken away for interrogation. His wife, Larisa, who works as a neurologist, was left at home with her children, promising that she would be interrogated later. All electronic devices were seized from the family. The only reason for what happened was religion.\nIn the house of one of the families, law enforcement officers opened the floors during searches. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated.\nThe Trans-Baikal Territory is the territory where Jehovah's Witnesses were massively exiled to a special settlement during the Stalinist repressions. Later, the believers were rehabilitated and recognized as victims of political repression.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2020-02-10T11:34:05+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2020/02/26/image_hu_e3e6a981b042f9ff.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2020/02/26/image_hu_8eb1da9639c33f3d.jpg","webp":"/news/2020/02/26/image_hu_20492297919732f9.webp","webp2x":"/news/2020/02/26/image_hu_e5476ff33b605277.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/02/26.html","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","sizo","disability","minors"],"title":"Transbaikalia Becomes the 54th Region of Russia Where Jehovah’s Witnesses Are Repressed. Searches in the City of Chita and Six Other Settlements","type":"news"},{"body":"During the day, officers of the FSB and other bodies conduct searches in 50 houses of believers in cities and towns of the Trans-Baikal Territory, namely: Chita (20 searches), Khilok (4 searches), Krasnokamensk (4 searches), Baley (3 searches) and Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky (2 searches), the villages of Yasnogorsk (6 searches), Amazar (4 searches), Duldurga (2 searches), Verkhnyaya Hila (1 search), Kurort-Darasun (1 search) and Pervomaiskoye (1 search), as well as in the villages of Verkh-Chita (1 search), Zasopka (1 search) and Ilya (1 search). (Information about raids against believers in Karymsky and Shilka has not been confirmed.) At least 10 people were detained for interrogation. 31-year-old Vladimir Ermolaev (married), 47-year-old Sergey Kirilyuk (married), Pavel Mamalimov (married, has a young daughter), 31-year-old Vadim Kutsenko (married) remain in custody.\nDuring a search in the home of another family, the security forces beat the minor Alexander Karpov. Law enforcement officers forcibly knocked him to the floor, put his hands behind his head and beat him in front of his mother and younger sister. The young man is forced to \"crawl\" into the living room, where law enforcement officers read out a search warrant. The search lasts 12 hours. (Later, the lawyer in Alexander's interests filed a complaint with the investigation department about the actions of the security forces. The medical expert records the traces of beatings, and a specialist goes to inspect the house, who removes tights with traces of Alexander's blood.)\nAmong others, the search takes place in the house of Olga Polyakova, a 62-year-old resident of Khilka, a disabled person of group III. Although she has difficulty moving, she is taken away for interrogation after the search. In the same city, security forces search the home of the Maltsev family. Both spouses are on disability and are raising a minor daughter. During the search, an ambulance is called for the spouses. Despite this, the head of the family, Vadim, is taken away for interrogation.\nThe Vasilyev spouses, who live in Kurort-Darasun with four minor children, were invaded by law enforcement officers early in the morning. During the search, the head of the family, a disabled person of group III, felt unwell, but he was still taken away for interrogation.\nThe Investigative Committee reports that more than 30 investigative and operational groups were formed before the raids, which simultaneously worked in Chita and the districts of the Trans-Baikal Territory.\n31-year-old Vadim Kutsenko is handcuffed behind his back, his eyes are closed and he is subjected to beatings, strangulation and electric shocks to the lower leg and abdomen in an official car, demanding a confession. During the torture, Vadim Kutsenko refuses to admit guilt or give false testimony against his fellow believers. A company car stops in the forest behind the SibVO stadium. They take off his hat from his eyes and force him to get out of the car and beat him on the legs. After that, he is taken to the investigator, where he immediately declares the torture applied to him.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Ermolaev and Others in Chita","date":"2020-02-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/chita/index.html#20200210","regions":["zabaykalsky"],"tags":["torture","siloviks-violence","minors","search","interrogation","health-risk","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Investigator Denis Shevchenko initiates a criminal case against Lyudmila Shut on the basis of suspicions of her participation in an extremist organization (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Lyudmila is a disabled person of the II group. For health reasons, she can move only with the help of others or on crutches.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Shut in Razdolnoye","date":"2020-02-10T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/volno-nadezhdinskoye2/index.html#20200210","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["new-case","282.2-2","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"Three believing residents of Georgievsk (Stavropol Territory) became the object of close attention of law enforcement officers - a married couple was accused of extremism. Also, the defendant in the criminal case was the father of two minor children who underwent heart surgery.\nAs it became known on January 11, 2020, a criminal case was opened on charges of organizing and participating in extremist activities in the context of searches in Georgievsk that took place on October 23, 2019.\nSpecial services raided three addresses, in each case the owners planted flash drives. Then 11 people were detained, they were interrogated until late at night, after which they were released.\nOne of the searches took place in the house of Viktor Zimovskiy. Some time ago, he underwent severe heart surgery. Victor became ill right during the special events. Nevertheless, he was also taken to the police station and interrogated along with everyone else.\nAccording to the Investigative Committee, Victor convened and held meetings of fellow believers in the household provided by the couple. Believers discussed with those who came \"religious intolerance towards representatives of other faiths,\" as follows from the message on the website of the Investigative Committee for Stavropol. This is what the security forces call peaceful prayers and joint discussions of the principles of Christian life. A criminal case was opened against all three under Part 1 of Article 282.2 and Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of Russia.\nThe repression may affect not only Viktor's health, but also his family. Viktor has two small children of preschool and primary school age, his wife is pregnant with her third child.\nBelievers have repeatedly told how religious persecution hits families. In addition, there have been cases when the stress associated with the actions of the security forces led to the failure of pregnancy. This happened in the Lungu family of Dzhankoy.\nUpdate. On January 23, 2020, investigator A. M. Ostya summoned Viktor Zimovskiy for questioning and immediately detained him, sending him to the temporary detention facility. The next day, the Georgievsk City Court arrested Viktor for 1 month and 6 days. It is not yet known in which pre-trial detention center the believer will await trial. ","category":"trial","date":"2020-01-16T09:42:05+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/common/usb-flash_hu_1ea7369786ae2d86.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/common/usb-flash_hu_180cb0f5b9385364.jpg","webp":"/news/common/usb-flash_hu_7f924ef94ac140a0.webp","webp2x":"/news/common/usb-flash_hu_4b5889e29bec1275.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2020/01/6.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","families","minors","new-case","plant","health-risk","interrogation","282.2-1","282.2-2","disability"],"title":"Searches in Georgievsk Lead to Criminal Prosecution of Three Believers Including the Father of Two Children","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 23, 2019, the Eighth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction overturned the appeal decision of the Kemerovo Regional Court, which upheld the 6-month extension of the period of detention of Kemerovo residents Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk. Although the believers have already served this term in a pre-trial detention center, it is important that it is recognized as illegal.\u0026nbsp;\nHere's how events unfolded:\u0026nbsp;\n13.06.2019The Berezovsky City Court, based on the results of the preliminary hearing, extends the period of detention of Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk in custody for another 6 months, that is, until December 3,\u0026nbsp;2019. By that time, both had already been behind bars for almost 11 months.\u0026nbsp;\n17.06.2019The lawyer is filing an appeal with the Kemerovo Regional Court against the decision of the Berezovsky City Court of 13.06.2019 to extend the\u0026nbsp;period of\u0026nbsp;detention\u0026nbsp;for Britvin and Levchuk\u0026nbsp;until December 3, 2019\u0026nbsp;.\u0026nbsp;\n19.07.2019The Kemerovo Regional Court refuses to satisfy the lawyer's\u0026nbsp;appeal filed on 17.06.2019.\u0026nbsp;\n30.07.2019The lawyer submits a cassation appeal to the Presidium of the Kemerovo Regional Court against the decision of the Berezovsky City Court of 13.06.2019 and the decision of the Kemerovo Regional Court of 19.07.2019.\u0026nbsp;\n19.08.2019The judge\u0026nbsp;of the\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Kemerovo Regional Court\u0026nbsp;refuses\u0026nbsp;to transfer\u0026nbsp;the cassation appeal dated 30.07.2019\u0026nbsp;to the Presidium of the Regional Court.\u0026nbsp;\n12.09.2019The lawyer submits a cassation to the higher Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.\u0026nbsp;\n12.11.2019The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation satisfies the cassation appeal. Judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Vasily Zykin, having studied the circumstances of the case, notes that the decision on the 6-month extension of the period of detention of Kemerovo residents Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk \"cannot be recognized as lawful and justified.\" The Supreme Court refers\u0026nbsp;the cassation\u0026nbsp;appeal for consideration to the\u0026nbsp;newly created\u0026nbsp;Eighth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction (located in the city of Kemerovo).\u0026nbsp;\n27.11.2019The Berezovsky City Court extends the period of detention of\u0026nbsp;Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk\u0026nbsp;for another 3 months, that is, until March 3, 2020.\u0026nbsp;\n02.12.2019The lawyer is filing an appeal with the Kemerovo Regional Court against the decision of the Berezovsky City Court of 27.11.2019\u0026nbsp;to extend the\u0026nbsp;period of\u0026nbsp;detention\u0026nbsp;for Britvin and Levchuk\u0026nbsp;until March 3, 2020.\u0026nbsp;\n23.12.2019The Kemerovo Regional Court changes the decision of the Berezovsky\u0026nbsp;City Court of 27.11.2019 (on a 3-month extension of the period of detention of believers) and assigns them house arrest. On the same day, the Eighth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction cancels the appeal decision of the Kemerovo Regional Court of 19.07.2019 (on a 6-month extension of the period of detention of believers) and returns the case to the Kemerovo Regional Court for the\u0026nbsp;appeal stage.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n25.12.2019Late in the evening, believers leave the pre-trial detention center after 521 days in custody.\u0026nbsp;\nBelievers do not admit their guilt, insist that they are simply practicing their religion - and this is not prohibited by law. They cannot be charged with the victims or the damage caused.\u0026nbsp;\nCassation courts of general jurisdiction are an innovation in Russian legal proceedings. The cassation courts of general jurisdiction began their work on October 1, 2019. A total of 9 cassation courts of general jurisdiction were established in Saratov, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Pyatigorsk, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo and Vladivostok.\u0026nbsp;\n","category":"restriction","date":"2019-12-27T09:28:31+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/12/1506/2_1_hu_cd81be14bdfb5045.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/12/1506/2_1.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/12/1506/2_1_hu_12246eeb66d2954.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/12/1506/2_1_hu_6bd23e7419205342.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/12/1506.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["cassation","sizo","disability"],"title":"The newly created Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction found the detention of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kemerovo unjustified","type":"news"},{"body":"On December 23, 2019, the Kemerovo Regional Court changed the decision of the Berezovsky City Court on the next extension of the detention period for 3 months of Vadim Levchuk and Sergey Britvin. On the night of December 26, they were transferred to house arrest, the hearing on the merits continues.\nThe trial for their faith against Vadim and Sergey began on June 13, 2019 (the first court hearing took place on July 30, 2019). The hearings are being held in the Berezovsky City Court of the Kemerovo Region under the chairmanship of Judge Irina Vorobyova. Believers are tried for participating in worship services, interpreting this as \"organizing the activities of an extremist organization.\"\nLaw enforcement officers of the Kemerovo region are trying to convince the court that the peaceful practice of religion according to Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation is a continuation of the activities of the liquidated religious organization.\n","category":"restriction","date":"2019-12-26T11:35:15+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/12/1504/britvin_sergey_kemerovskaya1_0_hu_187dcd13f6021d72.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/12/1504/britvin_sergey_kemerovskaya1_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/12/1504/britvin_sergey_kemerovskaya1_0_hu_a1245171968de1d0.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/12/1504/britvin_sergey_kemerovskaya1_0_hu_9cddf706de19f920.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/12/1504.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["appeal","sizo","house-arrest","disability"],"title":"In the Kemerovo region, Vadim Levchuk and Sergey Britvin were released under house arrest after 521 days behind bars","type":"news"},{"body":"On the evening of October 23, 2019, in Georgievsk (Stavropol Territory), police officers in bulletproof vests almost simultaneously broke into 3 dwellings of believers. Searches were carried out. Flash drives were planted in all the houses. 11 people, one of whom has a disability, were taken to the local police station for interrogation, which lasted until 2 a.m.\nDuring the raid, police officers who introduced themselves as the \"Investigative Committee\" confiscated electronic devices, asked questions about the religious affiliation of residents, where they kept money and how often they saw their fellow believers. Viktor Zimovskiy, whose house was searched, underwent complex heart surgery, and although he became ill during the search, he was taken away for interrogation along with others. In another case, the police raided a woman who was lying at home with a fever. All were fingerprinted.\nThree years ago, it was from the village of Nezlobnaya, Georgievsky District, Stavropol Territory, that a wave of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in that region rolled in. At that time, law enforcement officers planted banned literature on believers right under surveillance cameras, and, as it became obvious, the practice of planting continues.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2019-11-04T17:56:36+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/11/1317/9_hu_46bc5ed68f48720f.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/11/1317/9_hu_a2de7514ac2512ef.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/11/1317/9_hu_ad9d63c0308aed5c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/11/1317/9_hu_8dd5c6c54e070786.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/11/1317.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","plant","interrogation","disability","health-risk"],"title":"Searches in the homes of believers in Georgievsk. Regular planting and interrogation of believers","type":"news"},{"body":"On August 9, 2019, the prosecutor of the city of Karpinsk, Andrei Arzhakhovsky, approved the final document, which summarized the charges against Alexander Pryanikov, Daria and Venera Dulov, suspected of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. The case goes to court - read the details in the chronicle of the process.\nThree believers are charged with participating in the activities of the banned religious organization \"Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia\" - this is how law enforcement agencies interpret reading the Bible with friends. In their opinion, 19-year-old student Daria Dulova colluded with her mother and acquaintance Pryanikov and \"continued to actively participate in the activities of a banned local religious organization,\" and also had a \"psychological impact on society.\" All three were charged under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.\nIt is noteworthy that Daria Dulova is the youngest accused in the trials against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia at the moment, and her mother Venera has been receiving a group III disability pension since 1996. Alexander Pryanikov is an entrepreneur who makes decorative tiles. All three are under recognizance agreement. Searches were carried out in their homes, electronic devices and various documents were seized from them.\nLaw enforcement officers of the Sverdlovsk region continue to believe that residents of the region do not have the right to practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, which contradicts Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the statement of the Government of the Russian Federation: \"[the decisions of the Russian courts] do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teachings individually.\"\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-08-19T16:10:33+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/08/1072/web_daria_dulova_0_hu_30445067175a901e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/08/1072/web_daria_dulova_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/08/1072/web_daria_dulova_0_hu_999b0d270f58fa0.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/08/1072/web_daria_dulova_0_hu_208c1233e4e8bf06.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/08/1072.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["to-court","disability","recognizance-agreement","families"],"title":"The prosecutor's office in the Sverdlovsk region signed an indictment against three believers ","type":"news"},{"body":"On May 30, 2019, in the city of Karpinsk (Sverdlovsk region), a criminal case was initiated against 19-year-old Daria Dulova solely on religious grounds. The investigation believes that she professes the views of Jehovah's Witnesses. For the same reason, her mother has been under recognizance not to leave for a year. According to the investigation, the 19-year-old college student, colluding with her mother and acquaintance, \"continued to actively participate in the activities of the banned local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses\" and had a \"psychological impact on society.\" On this basis, Senior Investigator of the Investigative Department for Krasnoturinsk of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Captain of Justice V. A. Sudin opened a criminal case against Daria for participation in the activities of an extremist organization (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The girl became the youngest accused in the trials against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia at the moment. A year earlier, on July 30, 2018, a criminal case was initiated under a similar article against Daria's mother, Venera Dulova, who has a hearing disability. Then law enforcement officers searched their apartment and subjected Darya to psychological pressure and threats. They were actively interested in whether her parents read religious literature. The case of Darya Dulova is combined with the criminal cases of Venera Dulova and Aleksandr Pryanikov, another peaceful believer who was persecuted in Karpinsk. Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia has recently become widespread, and law enforcement agencies are initiating cases under serious criminal articles, regardless of the age and gender of the believers. The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, President Putin himself, prominent public figures of Russia, the European Union External Action Service, observers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights drew attention to this problem. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that the decisions of the Russian courts on the liquidation and prohibition of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses \"do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, do not contain a restriction or prohibition to practice the above teachings individually.\"\n","category":"trial","date":"2019-08-03T22:36:25+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/08/1015/web_daria_dulova_hu_30445067175a901e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/08/1015/web_daria_dulova.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/08/1015/web_daria_dulova_hu_999b0d270f58fa0.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/08/1015/web_daria_dulova_hu_208c1233e4e8bf06.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/08/1015.html","regions":["sverdlovsk"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["new-case","families","282.2-2","disability"],"title":"In the Sverdlovsk region, a criminal case for faith was opened against a young girl and her disabled mother ","type":"news"},{"body":"According to available data, in 2018, 269 searches were conducted throughout Russia in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses. All searches are a direct consequence of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to ban Jehovah's Witnesses. A search turns an innocent person's life into a nightmare, undermines his health, causes deep emotional trauma and casts a shadow on his reputation in the eyes of neighbors, employers and others.\nThe year 2018 began with 12 searches in the homes of believers in Kemerovo in January and 13 searches in Belgorod in February. In Belgorod, large groups of law enforcement officers knocked citizens to the floor, put them against the wall. Some searches were carried out in a rude form and were accompanied by offensive comments, Bibles, electronic devices, passports, money, even photographs hanging on the wall were seized from citizens.\nIn April 2018, 8 searches took place: 2 in Ufa, 4 in Polyarny (Murmansk region) and 2 in Vladivostok. In Polyarny, armed riot police officers acted extremely rudely. In one case, they broke down the door to an apartment and, at gunpoint, forced a man and his minor daughter at home to lie on the floor. Elsewhere, the commandos pushed an elderly man with such force that he fell, and, in addition, bruised two other women who were visiting him. The teenagers, siblings, were put against the wall and ordered to hold their arms outstretched.\nIn May 2018 , a total of 68 searches took place in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses: 17 in Orenburg, 22 in Birobidzhan, 1 in Perm, 8 in Orel, 10 in Naberezhnye Chelny (Tatarstan), 6 in Shuya (Ivanovo region) and 4 in Magadan. In Shuya, during one of the searches, riot police officers put a gun to a man's head, although he did not offer any resistance, and forced him to lie on the floor for 15 minutes. In Birobidzhan, about 150 security officials simultaneously participated in a raid on Jehovah's Witnesses, code-named \"Judgment Day\".\nIn June 2018 , a total of 19 searches were conducted in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses: 4 in Pskov, at least 2 in Tomsk, 7 in Saratov , and 8 in Lensk , Yakutia. In Pskov, law enforcement officers broke down doors, among the victims of searches were 2-year-old children and 80-year-old people.\nIn July 2018, 27 searches took place: 4 in Omsk, 4 in Penza, 2 in Razdolnoye (Primorsky Territory), 3 in Blagoveshchensk, in Berezovsky (Kemerovo Region), 2 in Kostroma, 1 in Nakhodka (Primorsky Territory) and 3 in Vilyuchinsk (Kamchatka Territory). In Omsk, masked security forces broke down the door of the apartment where the couple slept and, without making any demands, struck the man several blows to the head, as a result of which severe bleeding began. After a while, the man was picked up and forced to wipe the blood on the floor. In the village of Razdolnoye, armed masked law enforcers hit a 75-year-old landlord in the face during the assault and twisted his hands behind his back.\nIn August 2018 , 12 searches took place: at least 1 in Karpinsk (Sverdlovsk region), 4 in Khabarovsk, 3 in Spassk-Dalny (Primorsky Territory) and 4 in Yelizovo (Kamchatka Territory).\nIn September 2018, 13 searches took place: 6 in Perm and 7 in Kostroma.\nIn October 2018, 38 searches took place: 8 in Sychevka and Smolensk, 19 in Kirov and 11 in Dyurtyuli (Bashkortostan). In Smolensk, during a search, 2 women were arrested, who have been behind bars for about 100 days.\nIn November 2018 , 51 searches took place: 20 in Krasnoyarsk, 10 in Novosibirsk, 4 in Khabarovsk, 8 in Dzhankoy (Crimea), 5 in Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Territory) and 4 in Spassk-Dalny (Primorsky Territory).\nIn December 2018, 8 searches took place: 1 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and 7 in Neftekumsk (Stavropol Territory). In Neftekumsk, during a search, a woman was forced to fully undress in the presence of witnesses. In addition, a minor was subjected to a body search with exposure to his underwear. A woman with group II disability was not allowed to use the toilet for a long time. A young girl, in front of whom the search took place, cried with fear. Another woman required emergency medical attention after the search.\nIn addition to searches in homes, at least 57 other people were subjected to a personal search (an investigative action consisting in finding on the body of the searched person, in his clothes and shoes, as well as in his personal belongings objects relevant to the criminal case). The above number of home searches and personal searches is probably incomplete.\nHow do Jehovah's Witnesses who have been searched live? How do they feel when they are rounded up and their loved ones are imprisoned? They themselves talk about this in the videos \"Ruthless searches and arrests of believers in Kirov\", \"Arrests of believers throughout Russia\" and \"Dzhankoy after the raid: how persecution cripples the lives of believers\".\nA search is a significant restriction of a person's constitutional right to liberty and security of person, privacy, personal and family secrets, honor and good name. Concern about what is happening was expressed by the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation and personally by President Vladimir Putin. ","category":"analytics","date":"2019-01-15T19:20:37+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/01/563/180725_kostroma_vtorzhenie_istochnik_foto_tv_centr38042_1_hu_493da938a12197b8.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/01/563/180725_kostroma_vtorzhenie_istochnik_foto_tv_centr38042_1.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/01/563/180725_kostroma_vtorzhenie_istochnik_foto_tv_centr38042_1_hu_ca20c1e6c55c47b.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/01/563/180725_kostroma_vtorzhenie_istochnik_foto_tv_centr38042_1_hu_48583e27bcecec14.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/01/563.html","regions":["moscow"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","analytics","siloviks-violence","minors","health-risk","elderly","disability"],"title":"Record 269 Searches of Jehovah's Witnesses' Homes in a Year (Review)","type":"news"},{"body":"On October 9, 2018, searches were conducted in several homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kirov. As a result, 5 people were arrested, including a Polish citizen. Their families tell the details of what happened and how they live now.\nNina Korobeynikova, a resident of Kirov, who has a disability, draws a postcard for her father Vladimir. For two months now, he and four other Jehovah's Witnesses have been in pre-trial detention. \"When I was little, my dad was my best friend,\" says Nina. We played together, talked, went fishing. And all my life I've always lived with my parents, and my dad was always there.\"\nGalina Khalturina, Maksim Khalturin's mother, recalls the details of that October morning when the raids took place. \"We were still sleeping, but Maxim was in the kitchen, he had breakfast, he goes to work early.- Then my husband and I woke up, I went out into the corridor and saw a lot of people. Maxim is facing the wall. Legs and arms are wide apart.\"\nAnd here is what happened in the house of Vladimir Korobeynikov. Says his wife Olga, who, due to illness, practically does not get out of bed: \"I tried to wake Volodya up, he quickly got up, approached, he was told: \"Open the door, we want to talk to you about God.\" And he said, \"I won't open it for you, and if you don't leave now, I'll just call the police.\" Well, that's when they say, \"We're already here.\" And they showed their crusts.\n\"We quickly got dressed, opened the door, and in a second the apartment was filled with men in black,\" says Svetlana, the wife of Yevgeny Suvorkov, \"I was just shocked. They flew into the apartment in an instant.\" Her relative Svetlana, the wife of Andrey Suvorkov, says: \"They behaved busily, they felt like masters in our apartment. This, too, of course, was unpleasant.\nAnna, who is married to Polish citizen Andrzej Oniszczuk, shares her feelings: \"For me, it was just a humiliation when people come to you and walk through your clean linen with dirty boots. When they start opening things, look in. They also look at us in such a way that we may have something wrong there. Yes, it was a shame, a humiliation, I was embarrassed in front of my neighbors, because they know us ... To be honest, I still try to put everything together in such a way that if they come again, I won't be ashamed.\"\nAs a result, 50-year-old Andrzej Oniszczuk, 65-year-old Vladimir Korobeynikov, 25-year-old Andrey Suvorkov, 40-year-old Yevgeny Suvorkov and 44-year-old Maxim Khalturin were sent to a pre-trial detention center. They are accused of organizing and financing extremist activities simply because of their religion.\n\"The exact time, 8:39, I remembered for the rest of my life,\" says the mother of Maxim Khalturin.- This is probably a long time I will not forget. At that time, Maksim was taken away from the apartment.\" \"I hoped that he would leave for two hours,\" admits Olga Korobeynikova.- But by the evening I already realized that he would not return. Not today, most likely, not tomorrow.\" \"When he left, it was like we said goodbye to him for two hours. He himself probably did not expect such a turn, \"says the wife of Andrei Suvorkov. \"When I began to collect food, the operative advised me to collect things,\" says Anna Onischuk.- And the investigator said: \"He doesn't need to collect anything, maybe I'll let him go today.\" The implication was that if he cooperated, I might let him go.\"\nUnfortunately, when deciding on the measure of restraint, the court did not take into account the difficult family situations of the accused. In particular, Maxim Khalturin's elderly parents have serious health problems. His father is completely dependent on his son's support and care. \"It's very hard for me without him. After all, I take care of my husband alone. And I'm 81 years old,\" says Galina Khalturina.- My husband lost his speech and the right side. He couldn't talk, so these facial expressions, these tongue twisters, it had a very big effect on him and on his speech. And at least now he speaks a little, slowly. It's all the merit that Maxim helped him a lot.\"\nThe situation in the family of Vladimir Korobeynikov is no less difficult. His wife practically does not get up, and his daughter Nina is not able to provide her with the necessary support, since she herself is a disabled person of group I. She says: \"Sometimes mom needs immediate medical attention, and usually dad would call an ambulance and accompany her in the car, because only he knows in what position you can put it, how to lift it.\" Here is how his lawyer, Yegiazar Chernikov, comments on the situation: \"The court's decision looks blasphemous from the point of view of human relations, since the court's decision contradicts the basic principles of mercy in the administration of justice. It breaks my heart to see the situation of their families.\" \"When you see a 66-year-old pensioner who has lived a well-deserved life, or a middle-aged man who has sick relatives, of course, it causes only human sympathy,\" says Yevgeny Kokoulin, deputy chairman of the Vyatka Committee on Human Rights.\nRelatives of prisoners share that the incident seriously affected their own physical and emotional state. \"I couldn't sleep and eat for the first week at all,\" says Olga Korobeynikova.- When I just wake up, it's just pain. When no one is at home, no one at all, I allow myself to cry loudly, to pray out loud. Well, that is, this is no longer a prayer, this is a cry, this is a supplication. Andrey Suvorkov's wife Svetlana shares: \"I constantly think about Andrey, I constantly think about how he is now, what is happening to him, what he feels. I miss him very much, and I think he misses me too.\" Maksim Khalturin's mother Galina: \"I miss him very much. It's so hard for me without him! I don't know how I can wait for it? Valery Petrovich also misses his son. And when they took him away, he also had tears on his face.\"\nThe wives and close relatives of five imprisoned believers try to support each other. They get together, read letters from the pre-trial detention center, discuss the life of prisoners and share the latest news from behind barbed wire.\n\"I walk around the cell a lot, I can walk six steps, then back. You know, I love walking. I refuse to walk only in severe rain. I really like to walk, there is a larger area, you can walk in circles, and look at the sky through the lattice, breathe fresh air\" (from a letter from Yevgeny Suvorkov).\n\"Today they brought 60 letters, more than a kilogram. Letters, of course, have come before, but so many at once, for the first time\" (from a letter from Maxim Khalturin).\n\"How I miss you! Previously, it was enough for me to be aware that you were in the next room, and I could approach you at any time. And now I just need to get at least some news from you like air!\" (from a letter from Vladimir Korobeynikov).\n\"Life gives each of us black and white sketches, and they are not always beautiful. But we have felt-tip pens of all colors, and it's up to us to decide which ones to use. But how much wiser it is to paint life with bright colored felt-tip pens, then you will find a joyful heart. Look around, what colors the joyful God uses\" (from a letter from Andrei Suvorkov).\nThese women very much hope that law enforcement officers will come to their senses and stop the senseless persecution of their husbands, fathers and sons. Moreover, quite recently, the president of the country promised to look into this issue.\n\"And it is necessary, of course, to do what you propose - to analyze law enforcement practice. And if necessary, make some adjustments. [...] Jehovah's Witnesses are also Christians, and I also don't really understand why they should be persecuted. Therefore, we just need to analyze, we need to do it. I will talk to Vyacheslav Mikhailovich [Lebedev, Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation], and try to do it\" (from the transcript of Vladimir Putin's speech at a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights on December 11, 2018).\n\"I imagine that we will meet at home,\" says Nina Korobeynikova.- Mom will be able to get up for a while, all three of us will hug, and we will all cry.\nFortunately, this meeting did not have to wait long. On December 20, the Kirov Regional Court considered the believers' appeal and placed one of them, Vladimir Korobeynikov, under house arrest.\nFour more believers from Kirov still remain in the pre-trial detention center.\nAs of January 1, 2019, 25 Jehovah's Witnesses were detained in Russia.\n","category":"eyewitnesses","date":"2019-01-11T14:50:09+03:00","duration":"10:01","image":{"jpg":"/news/2019/01/561/kirov-01_0_hu_2a68c10b69a16aa0.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2019/01/561/kirov-01_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2019/01/561/kirov-01_0_hu_a4a519f66099ecc4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2019/01/561/kirov-01_0_hu_f03714e1669e58d7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2019/01/561.html","regions":["kirov"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","ivs","elderly","disability","families","video"],"title":"Ruthless Searches and Arrests of Believers in Kirov","type":"video"},{"body":"On December 9, 2018, at least 8 searches were carried out in Neftekumsk (Stavropol Territory) in apartments, private houses and non-residential premises of citizens suspected of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Konstantin Samsonov (41), Aleksandr Akopov (26) and Shamil Sultanov (41) were sent to jail. Another man is wanted. The criminal case under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was initiated by the Investigative Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Stavropol Territory on December 7, 2017.\nMany law enforcement officers, including those from the regional center, were involved in the searches. In most places, masked soldiers armed with assault rifles drove up in an off-road military truck (Ural).\nCitizens were subjected to degrading treatment. During one search, a woman was forced to fully undress in the presence of witnesses (women). In addition, a minor (17 years old) was subjected to a body search with exposure to his underwear. A woman with group II disability was not allowed to use the toilet for a long time. A young girl, in front of whom the search took place, cried with fear. Another woman required emergency medical attention after the search. An ambulance team was also called to Konstantin Samsonov directly for the court hearing, during which he was sent to a pre-trial detention center.\nDuring the searches, books, communication equipment, computers, notebooks, electronic storage devices, personal money, bank cards, vehicle documents, photographs, etc., were seized.\nIt is noteworthy how the FSB motivated the need to detain citizens: \"After the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia to ban activities ... Samsonov K.V. did not renounce his religious views\" (the identical wording was also used in the investigator's petition to the court against Shamil Sultanov). Earlier, dozens of human rights defenders, as well as the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation , expressed concern about the growing religious repression.\nEarlier, on August 26, 2017, 18 citizens who were vacationing with children on the shore of the lake in the vicinity of Neftekumsk, were blocked by a detachment of armed police officers and taken to the police station under the threat of force. In November, 9 searches in the homes of believers were conducted in Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Territory).\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2018-12-14T15:37:12+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2018/12/537/police-034407_0_5_0_hu_b3a75d6446bf5b00.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2018/12/537/police-034407_0_5_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2018/12/537/police-034407_0_5_0_hu_9c2c1347edee10ce.webp","webp2x":"/news/2018/12/537/police-034407_0_5_0_hu_cec6f3ae74f8e0a8.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2018/12/537.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","interrogation","ivs","new-case","282.2-1","minors","disability","health-risk"],"title":"Arrests, Searches and a Criminal Case in the Stavropol Territory","type":"news"},{"body":"On November 21, 2018, in Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Territory), starting at 6 a.m., 9 searches were conducted in the homes of citizens who are suspected of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Computers and other electronic devices were seized from believers.\nDuring one of the searches, a man, a disabled person of group I, was detained. During another search, spouses with a one-year-old child were detained. The child was left in the care of one of the relatives. During the interrogation, the 77-year-old believer required emergency medical attention. All those who were detained for questioning were released. It is not known whether a criminal case has been opened and what the believers are suspected of. The searches in the homes of believers, which take place throughout Russia, were a direct consequence of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2017, which imposed a ban on the activities of all registered legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses. The decision of the Supreme Court is appealed to the ECHR as a matter of priority. Meanwhile, dozens of human rights defenders, as well as the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, express concern about the growing religious repression.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2018-11-27T23:15:04+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2018/11/525/police-034407_0_5_hu_c745ca0ce87593ad.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2018/11/525/police-034407_0_5.jpg","webp":"/news/2018/11/525/police-034407_0_5_hu_6588ff4e9afd779c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2018/11/525/police-034407_0_5_hu_3e3030f75d39506f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2018/11/525.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","interrogation","disability","minors","elderly"],"title":"Mass Searches of Believers in Nevinnomyssk ","type":"news"},{"body":"The Kirov Regional Court releases Vladimir Korobeynikov under house arrest due to the illness of his wife and daughter, who have no one to take care of.\n","caseTitle":"Case of Korobeynikov in Kirov","date":"2018-10-20T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/kirov4/index.html#20181020","regions":["kirov"],"tags":["house-arrest","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On July 19, 2018, in the village of Razdolnoye (Primorsky Territory), armed masked law enforcement officers rudely broke into the homes of local residents who are suspected of practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. During the assault, law enforcement officers hit the 75-year-old landlord in the face. Shouting: \"Lie down!\" his hands were twisted behind his back.\nWhen armed law enforcement officers broke into another apartment, there were at least seven people aged 70 or more, some of them disabled, together with the hostess. One woman had a seizure. An ambulance arrived at the scene and took the woman to intensive care.\nAmong others, investigators A.A. Sendzyuk and D.A. Shevchenko, FSB officer N.B. Belyaev, and Alexander Zhertovskoy, an employee of an unidentified law enforcement agency, participated in the operation against civilians. The case is being investigated by the Nadezhdinsky District Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia.\nDuring the searches, phones, tablets, computers were seized from citizens. The detained citizens were taken for interrogation to the village of Volno-Nadezhdinskoye (Primorsky Territory). The interrogation dragged on until late at night.\nThis is the third criminal case for faith in the Primorsky Territory. The first case, against Valentin Osadchuk, is being investigated by the Investigative Department of the FSB of Russia in Vladivostok. The second case, against Dmitry Barmakin (sent to the pre-trial detention center until September 27, 2018), is being investigated by the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Pervorechensky District of Vladivostok.\nCurrently, criminal prosecution for faith, accompanied by rough searches and arrests of law-abiding citizens, occurs in 7 of the 9 regions of the Far Eastern Federal District, namely: in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), in the Amur, Magadan and Jewish Autonomous Regions , Primorsky (3), Khabarovsk and the Kamchatka Territory. Law enforcers mistakenly mistake the joint religion of citizens for participation in an extremist organization. Prominent public figures of Russia, as well as the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, have already drawn attention to this problem.\n","category":"siloviki","date":"2018-08-01T16:21:35+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2018/08/376/police-034407_0_0_hu_c745ca0ce87593ad.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2018/08/376/police-034407_0_0.jpg","webp":"/news/2018/08/376/police-034407_0_0_hu_6588ff4e9afd779c.webp","webp2x":"/news/2018/08/376/police-034407_0_0_hu_3e3030f75d39506f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2018/08/376.html","regions":["primorye"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["search","elderly","siloviks-violence","health-risk","disability","interrogation"],"title":"In Primorye Territory, the Third Criminal Case for Faith","type":"news"},{"body":"On Saturday, August 26, 2017, 18 citizens who were resting with children on the shore of the lake in the vicinity of the city of Neftekumsk (Stavropol Territory) were blocked by a detachment of armed police officers who arrived by bus and 5 cars. Police Lieutenant Colonel Ostrikov, who led the operation, stated that \"an anonymous call was received that Jehovah's Witnesses had gathered on the river, and they were banned.\" Under the threat of force, citizens were forced to enter a police bus and taken to the police station.\nMore than half of the detainees were children, the elderly and the disabled. For 3 hours, the police interrogated them, asking questions about their attitude to religion, and the children were interrogated despite the disagreement of their parents, without explaining their rights and obligations. The children were frightened and crying. Everyone, without exception, experienced severe stress. Some citizens noted in the interrogation record that they had experienced degrading treatment at the hands of the police. In particular, it was expressed in the fact that citizens were loaded into a dirty bus inside, they were not allowed to use the phone, they were escorted to the toilet, and they made sarcastic remarks during interrogation.\nIt is noteworthy that for several days before this event, the police went around the houses of these citizens, trying to establish their place of work, occupation, etc. Despite the absence of any signs of illegal actions, the police did not apologize to the citizens for the disrupted rest.\n","category":"from-the-scene","date":"2017-08-30T12:01:33+03:00","duration":"1:21","image":{"jpg":"/news/2017/08/210/lake-13629_hu_ea88a788615be849.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2017/08/210/lake-13629.jpg","webp":"/news/2017/08/210/lake-13629_hu_539aa76cf7505047.webp","webp2x":"/news/2017/08/210/lake-13629_hu_e87d506f72cd3d0.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2017/08/210.html","regions":["stavropol"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["elderly","disability","minors","interrogation"],"title":"In the Stavropol region, a police raid on citizens during a picnic","type":"video"},{"body":"\"The most extraordinary and rare mother is awarded,\" these words begin the certificate of honor, signed on June 1, 2017 by the director of the Research Institute of Pediatrics, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Leila Namazova-Baranova. The diploma was presented to Melana Petrosyan, a resident of Ramenskoye (Moscow region). Together with her husband Suren, they are raising their 13-year-old beloved son David and have been helping him fight a serious illness for 9 years.\nThe award was given to Melana, among other things, \"... for the ability to heroically endure difficulties in the upbringing and treatment of not only her rare child, but also helping other families with the same children, giving love and hope for light and goodness and urging never to give up under any circumstances and life difficulties.\nAccording to family friends, Melania and Suren have always sought and sought the best medical treatment, refuting the myth that Jehovah's Witnesses allegedly \"refuse medical treatment.\" All these years, Melana and Suren were helped in overcoming difficulties by their faith, advice from the holy book of the Bible, and the support of fellow believers. The ban imposed on the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses made life much more difficult for David and his parents.\n","category":"opinions","date":"2017-08-29T17:33:46+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482_hu_d965e4cbe1528674.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482.jpg","webp":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482_hu_330930451a3992f4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2017/08/209/petrosyan2482_hu_b27ebb44fda4cfc0.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2017/08/209.html","regions":["moscow_obl"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","gratitude"],"title":"\"The most extraordinary and rare mother is awarded\"","type":"news"},{"body":"Armed law enforcement officers detained 18 people who were resting on the shore of the lake in the vicinity of Neftekumsk. More than half of the detainees are children, the elderly and the disabled. The detainees were taken for interrogation - they were asked about their attitude to religion. The children were interrogated despite the protests of their parents. ","caseTitle":"Case of Samsonov and Others in Neftekumsk","date":"2017-08-26T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/neftekumsk/index.html#20170826","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["interrogation","minors","elderly","disability"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"On May 31, 2017, at a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, the President of the country presented Valeriy and Tatyana Novik, Jehovah's Witnesses from Karelia, with the Order of Parental Glory. The award ceremony was also attended by six of Novikov's eight children.\nThe order is awarded to parents with many children who set an example in strengthening the institution of the family and raising children, form a socially responsible family, lead a healthy lifestyle, ensure the full and harmonious development of the personality of children, a high level of care for their health, education, physical, spiritual and moral development.\nIn response, speaking about the spiritual and moral development of children, Valery Novik quoted a text from the Bible, which serves as a guide for him as a parent: \"Guide the boy to the right path; he will not shy away from it, even when he is old\" (Proverbs 22:6).\n","category":"opinions","date":"2017-06-06T06:20:22+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2017/06/176/novik_hu_fd1a40a2f93cd200.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2017/06/176/novik.jpg","webp":"/news/2017/06/176/novik_hu_b3171f3f26c85725.webp","webp2x":"/news/2017/06/176/novik_hu_1225a18b2d2981c7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2017/06/176.html","regions":["karelia"],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","gratitude"],"title":"A family of Jehovah's Witnesses received the order from the hands of the head of state","type":"news"},{"body":"The support provided by Jehovah's Witnesses for persons with disabilities in their worship buildings has been welcomed by the State of Haiti, which is adjacent to the Dominican Republic. The believers received one of the awards from the hands of the Prime Minister of the country!\nThe first award was received back in 2013, when Haiti was recovering from an earthquake that caused numerous casualties and injuries. The Christian Association of Jehovah's Witnesses Haiti was awarded for its worship building in Les Cayes, which was built to meet the needs of the disabled. In December 2015, another award was received for providing the deaf and blind with modern digital technologies, such as sign language videos and educational literature in Braille.\nRussian Jehovah's Witnesses follow the high standards of their fellow believers abroad. For example, Kingdom Halls are equipped with ramps, widened doors, and wheelchair accessible toilets. In addition to people with limited mobility, hearing-impaired, deaf, visually impaired and blind people receive everything they need to fully participate in worship services. According to the Bible, mercy is one of the most important Christian virtues.\n","category":"opinions","date":"2016-11-25T15:28:38+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02_hu_59c5be636f5b6d76.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02.jpg","webp":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02_hu_50b4ee5ea74b509f.webp","webp2x":"/news/2016/11/67/awards-02_hu_fabb699a082dc367.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2016/11/67.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["disability","pre-ban","gratitude"],"title":"State Awards for Supporting Persons with Disabilities in Haiti","type":"news"},{"body":"Veteran of labor Boris Andreev from Primorye Territory faced criminal prosecution in the fall of 2022 for his faith in God — his house was searched, he was detained and placed in a pretrial detention centre and charged with extremism. Being behind bars made his health worse.\nBoris was born in November 1951 in Monastyrishche (Primorye Territory). He has an older brother and sister. Their mother worked as a primary school teacher.\nAs a child, Boris liked cycling. He read a lot. After school, he graduated from the Far Eastern Polytechnic with a degree in electrical engineering and the University of Marxism-Leninism. Prior to his criminal prosecution, Boris worked for 18 years as a dispatcher for the unified emergency duty service. Over time he lived in Vladivostok, Khorol and Yaroslavsky.\nFrom a young age, Boris wanted to read the Bible, but he only began to study it thoughtfully at the age of 50. In this book, he found answers to questions that concerned him. With the help of advice from the Bible, Boris was able to quit smoking and overcome alcohol addiction. In 2004, he was batpized.\nBoris has three adult sons from his first marriage. In 2019, he met Aleksandra, who shares his views on life. A year later they got married. Aleksandra loves gardening. The couple enjoys spending time with each other and with friends, walking, going to the sea and playing board games.\nDue to his long stay in the pretrial detention center and the lack of adequate physical activity, even performing the simplest actions became difficult for Boris; heart problems and dizziness began. He was also diagnosed with a precancerous condition that requires regular observation by specialists, which is not easy in prison.\n","date":"2022-11-04","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/andreyevb/photo_hu_57e9386dcb13ca23.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/andreyevb/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/andreyevb/photo_hu_65cffaf8e2662c08.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/andreyevb/photo_hu_b46889bb62aa7c47.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/andreyevb.html","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["elderly","health-risk","disability"],"title":"Boris Andreyev","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Since the summer of 2020, Sergey Baev, a hard-working landscaping worker from Voronezh, has been persecuted for his religious beliefs. Neither the good reputation of a peaceful believer, nor his serious health problems prevented law enforcement officers from accusing him of a serious criminal offense.\nSergey was born in April 1973 in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan). He has a younger sister. Their parents divorced when the children were 5 and 7 years old, and their mother raised them alone.\nAs a child, Sergey was fond of football and chess, for five years he learned to play the accordion at a music school. After school, he received the profession of a mechanical technician for the installation, repair and maintenance of refrigeration equipment.\nFor some time Sergey worked in his specialty, after that he was engaged in the maintenance of buildings, and before the criminal prosecution, the improvement of streets and parks. After a stay in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest, Sergey was again taken to his former place of work in the Improvement Plant. In December 2021, he was awarded a certificate of honor for his good work.\nThe Bible impressed Sergey with its internal coherence. In 1994, he decided to take the Christian path. In 2003, Sergey married Olga, a geologist by profession. She shares his love for the Bible. Olga noted that the biblical creation story is consistent with modern geological data. Together, the couple raised their daughter Olga. In 2012 the family moved to Voronezh.\nSergey has serious vision problems. Against the backdrop of criminal prosecution, myopia has significantly worsened, and other diseases have also become aggravated. Due to his detention in a pre-trial detention center and subsequent house arrest, Sergey could not provide for his family for several months, for which his earnings were the main income.\nSergey's employees are aware of the persecution and worry about the believer. His family and friends try to provide the necessary support.\n","date":"2022-01-25","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/baev/photo_hu_2774732b03f8e40a.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/baev/photo_hu_f938860617593332.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/baev/photo_hu_f26b5a2a90425d7a.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/baev/photo_hu_c365659cece106af.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/baev.html","regions":["voronezh"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Sergey Baev","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In February 2022, Yevgeniy Bochko became a suspect in a criminal case on extremism only because of his belief in Jehovah God. He was searched, which caused bouts of chronic illness in a believer who is on disability—Bochko has multiple sclerosis, and this affects his coordination.\nYevgeniy was born in April 1975 in the village of Novoberezanskiy, Krasnodar Territory. He is the only child in the family, his mother raised him alone.\nAs a child, Yevgeniy was fond of studying insects, collecting stamps. He liked to repeat the experiments he had seen at physics and chemistry lessons at home, to examine objects under a microscope. In high school, he became interested in electronics, assembled a random number generator.\nIn 1996, Yevgeniy graduated from the Krasnodar Engineering College. After that, he worked as an electrician, an engineer for maintenance of instrumentation and automation of gas equipment. Currently unemployed for health reasons.\nYevgeniy recalls: “Childhood was difficult. There was no one to rely on, except God, I prayed from childhood. So when they offered to study the Bible, I immediately agreed.” Eugene found answers to his questions and in 1998 embarked on the Christian path.\nYevgeniy got married in 2009. His wife Anna is a housewife. For several years the couple lived in the city of Marks (Saratov region), later returned to Vyselki, and then settled in the village of Buzinovskaya.\nIn their free time, the couple take care of the garden and vegetable garden together. The Bochcos love animals: they have a cat, who, according to Yevgeniy, likes to listen to music, and two dogs.\nThe criminal prosecution has radically changed the lives of believers. Yevgeniy had to call an ambulance, as the stress he had experienced greatly affected his already poor health.\nRelatives and friends are perplexed because of what is happening. The villagers began to treat Yevgeny with more respect.\n","date":"2022-03-24","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/bochko/photo_hu_7da9c30b17446c66.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/bochko/photo_hu_52cd3def28e6dd63.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/bochko/photo_hu_f91fbf950bde4a6.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/bochko/photo_hu_7cc08c0709cc4e0d.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/bochko.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["disability","families"],"title":"Yevgeniy Bochko","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"On December 12, 2019, in Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Territory), the Investigative Committee opened criminal cases under two \"extremist\" articles against 9 believers. One of them is 78-year-old Anatoliy Boyko.\nAnatoliy was born in 1941 in the Alarsky district of the Irkutsk region. He grew up in a large family, but out of eight children, only two sisters survived, except for Anatoly. Both grandfathers were repressed and died during the Great Terror.\nThe first years of Anatoly's life were in wartime. Because of poverty and hunger, instead of children's games, the boy collected plants from which the mother could prepare food for the children. At the age of 5, he was on the verge of starvation. Growing up, he began to get involved in technology. He took care of animals and tried to breed bees.\nAnatoly graduated from 7 classes of school. He did not serve in the army, as at the age of 13 he injured his spine and became disabled. For many years he worked on an excavator. After leaving home, for some time he lived in Bratsk, in the city of Nartkala (Kabardino-Balkaria), and in 1971 he moved to live in Nevinnomyssk. He is currently retired. They have three children.\nAnatoliy says that a difficult childhood, hunger and cruelty of the war and post-war years prompted him to think: \"Is it really going to end like this?\" In 1967, Anatoliy began to study the Holy Scriptures. Having received answers to his questions, despite the strong opposition of relatives and colleagues, he decided to embark on the path of a Christian.\nHere Anatoly was waiting for new trials. The criminal prosecution had a negative impact on the health of the elderly person. During the search, he became ill and had to call an ambulance.\nAnatoly's friends are very worried about him, and do not understand how a person at this age can be persecuted just for believing in God.\nOnce upon a time, both of Anatoly's grandfathers suffered from repression, and now, 82 years later, their grandson is subjected to new repressions - religious.\n","date":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/boyko/photo_hu_a377493cf2fb8f0e.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/boyko/photo_hu_4c1b2f92bd7e8a81.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/boyko/photo_hu_fb9dad18fde95dfe.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/boyko/photo_hu_b4dec9203ed0fe6.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/boyko.html","regions":["stavropol"],"tags":["elderly","disability","descendants-repressed"],"title":"Anatoliy Boyko","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"After the storming of the houses of believers in July 2018, Sergey Britvin ended up in a pre-trial detention center, where he ended up spending almost 2 years. He was tried and found guilty of organizing extremist activities, appointing 4 years in a general regime colony. In March 2021, he was taken to a Novosibirsk colony.\nSergey was born in 1965 in the city of Belovo (Kemerovo region). Since childhood, he was fond of gymnastics and other sports. Sergey is a crane operator and driver by profession, worked as a BelAZ driver. Currently, he is a disabled person of group II.\nIn 1992, Sergey got married, and in 1995 he began to study the Bible, as he was interested in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Years later, his wife Natalia also became interested in the Holy Scriptures. She was particularly moved by the positive effects of faith on her husband.\nSergey's daughter, son-in-law, grandson, brothers and sister do not share his religious beliefs, but they are outraged by what happened to him. According to the believer's relatives, it is unacceptable to imprison people just because they peacefully study the Bible at home.\n","date":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/britvin/photo_hu_7120f4c31cf97c9f.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/britvin/photo_hu_add8ce7cc5e20afe.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/britvin/photo_hu_f20a1cd78fe44828.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/britvin/photo_hu_5aad1233b8cd5103.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/britvin.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["elderly","health-risk","disability"],"title":"Sergey Britvin","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In Soviet times, Anatoliy Gorbunov's father and grandfather were declared \"enemies of the people\" and exiled to Siberia. In 1993, they were rehabilitated, and in 2022, the court recognized Anatoliy himself as an extremist and sentenced him to 6 years in prison only because of his faith in Jehovah God.\nAnatoliy was born in August 1957 in the village of Dikanka (Ukraine). He has a younger brother. Parents worked hard to feed the family: father in a coal mine, and mother in a cultural center.\nAs a child, Anatoliy was fond of swimming, skiing and hockey, loved physics and mathematics. Graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Higher Command School of Air Defense Radio Electronics. He lived and worked in such places as Inta (Komi), the village of Chernaya (Nenets Autonomous Okrug), as well as in Estonia and Kazakhstan.\nIn 1978 Anatoliy married Galina. The marriage produced two children. From 1978 to 1983 he served in the army. After his dismissal, he moved to Krasnoyarsk with his family. Later he worked as an electrician, welder, power engineer. Now retired.\nSpouses have always been interested in the question of whether God exists from the point of view of science. Having found the answer to it, in 1996 Anatoliy and Galina decided to become Christians.\nA criminal case and a harsh sentence completely changed the life of the spouses. Relatives consider the persecution of Anatoliy unfair and illegal.\n","date":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/gorbunov/photo_hu_6d4e79789d79b05b.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/gorbunov/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/gorbunov/photo_hu_20c52b4420154094.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/gorbunov/photo_hu_c2bcb6c14c1c1936.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/gorbunov.html","regions":["krasnoyarsk"],"tags":["elderly","health-risk","disability","descendants-repressed"],"title":"Anatoliy Gorbunov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Igor was born in 1966 in Blagoveshchensk (Amur Region). His older brother is no longer alive. As a child, Igor was fond of skiing, orienteering and rafting on mountain rivers.\nAfter graduating from a vocational school, Igor worked as a plaster painter and plumber. Served in the army. \u0026quot;From an early age, he worked honestly, never hid even from hard work; he made furniture for people so that people could rest; he built houses so that they would have a place to live; built kindergartens and schools so that children could learn and be useful to people\u0026quot;, said the man, describing his work experience.\nIn 1988, Igor married Luciena, the couple had a daughter, Yelizaveta. In the early 2000s, the man decided to bring his life in line with Christian values, thanks to the study of the Holy Scriptures. He said: \u0026quot;Studying the Bible, I learned to love people, to get rid of envy, malice and hatred . . . found answers to many of his questions and found out: what is the meaning of life; what happens at death; why we get sick, grow old and eventually die; found practical advice on how to create family happiness; how to find joy in work and build relationships with people around you. Through reading and studying the Bible, I have been able to develop the qualities that the Creator wants to see in all people, such as meekness, kindness, self-control, and patience. It has benefited both me and my family.\u0026quot;\nIn their free time, the couple likes to relax together in nature. Before his arrest, due to Luciena\u0026#39;s health condition, Igor spent a lot of time caring for his wife. The criminal prosecution of her husband had a negative impact on the woman\u0026#39;s health.\n","date":"2020-08-24","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/ipopov/photo_hu_5deec330be661240.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/ipopov/photo_hu_9d1dd063ece0c69c.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/ipopov/photo_hu_2a5741365840251e.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/ipopov/photo_hu_cbbb1621bf1ec2a.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/ipopov.html","regions":["voronezh"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Igor Popov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Criminal prosecution for faith is another misfortune that befell the family of Anatoly Isakov, a disabled person of group II. In 2017, his 28-year-old son died, and in July 2021, the believer was searched and, despite his serious health condition, was placed in a pre-trial detention center.\nAnatoliy was born in August 1964 in Kurgan. As a child, he was engaged in judo, took part in sports competitions both in Kurgan and in other cities of the country. After school, he went to work at the Kurgan Machine-Building Plant (KMZ) and at the same time entered the correspondence department at the Kurgan Machine-Building Institute, from which he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. He worked at KMZ as a foreman, ventilator, and also as a roofer in the brigade.\nThroughout his youth, Anatoliy did not abandon his passion for sports: he was engaged in weightlifting, bodybuilding, and competed for his plant. He still leads a healthy lifestyle. His hobbies include music and reading. He especially enjoys playing the guitar, reading classical and educational literature.\nAnatoliy has always felt a spiritual thirst. In 1993, when he first picked up the Bible, he became interested in its teachings and began to study them deeply. He learned that, according to the Holy Scriptures, there is a Creator who has a plan for the earth and humanity, and that people are not a product of evolution. Anatoliy had a meaning in life.\nIn 1988, after the army, Anatoliy married Tatyana, whom he had known since school. After graduating from college, his wife has been working at KMZ all her life. In marriage, the couple had two children.\nTatiana is described as a good housewife, caring wife and mother. At first, she did not share her husband's religious beliefs and even began to study the Bible to prove the uselessness of his \"hobby\". However, over time, Tatiana's accumulated knowledge and life experience helped her to become convinced of the opposite, and she also became one of Jehovah's Witnesses.\nIn 2015, Anatoliy fell seriously ill and was bedridden for about a year. He got a disability and left his job, as he needs constant treatment for cancer. The sudden death of his son was a strong shock.\nRelatives are worried about the unfair criminal prosecution of Anatoly. They are especially concerned about his state of health and whether he is being provided with the necessary medical assistance in the pre-trial detention center. Prisoners are obliged to follow the requirements of the staff of the pre-trial detention center, including physical exertion that is unbearable for Anatoly: he can hardly move, he is not able to walk in the ranks at the required speed.\nDue to the arrest of Anatoly, the course of chemotherapy was interrupted, which he is forced to constantly undergo in the fight against oncology. Thus, criminal prosecution poses a real threat to Isakov's life.\n","date":"2021-08-09","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/isakov/photo_hu_7d0d2cd721c7e33f.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/isakov/photo_hu_ed81b61d5c5e1da8.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/isakov/photo_hu_3444edadde403aa1.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/isakov/photo_hu_fa7cb7b630360fba.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/isakov.html","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["elderly","disability"],"title":"Anatoliy Isakov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In May 2018, Valeriy Krieger was searched. Then the believer learned that a criminal case had been opened against him and accused of extremism. Later, in February 2020, his wife Natalya became the accused. In July 2021, the court sentenced her to 2.5 years of probation.\nValeriy was born in January 1968. Since childhood, he attended the sports section, mastered the master of sports program in jumping acrobatics, participated in competitions and demonstration performances in pair and group acrobatics.\nAfter school, Valeriy entered the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports of the Khabarovsk Pedagogical Institute. In his senior years, he was fascinated by recreational activities, he graduated from massage courses at the department of the Institute of Physical Education in Khabarovsk. After graduation, Valeriy worked as a massage therapist in a polyclinic, and since 2000 he has his own massage room.\nIn 2017, Valeriy married Nataliya, a close-minded person. As a child, Nataliya, after the death of her mother, ended up in an orphanage. From there she was taken by her grandmother, who raised her. She helped Nataliya understand the value of Bible advice and principles. Nataliya and Valeriy took care of their bedridden grandmother for 6 years, until her death in February 2020.\nThe couple love to spend time with friends, play volleyball, and are fond of rafting down the river on boats.\nValeriy's parents, although they do not share the religious views of their son, treat them with respect. They, the adult daughter of Valeriy from his first marriage, colleagues and patients do not hide their excitement because of his criminal prosecution.\n","date":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/kriger/photo.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/kriger/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/kriger/photo_hu_b27f269f331c21b1.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/kriger/photo_hu_b27f269f331c21b1.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/kriger.html","regions":["jewish"],"tags":["families","disability"],"title":"Valeriy Kriger","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"A criminal case was opened against Sergey Kuznetsov after his nephew, Yegor Baranov. The peaceful Christian was included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring, and in December 2022, the court sentenced him to 2.5 years suspended sentence just because of his faith.\nSergey was born in 1991 in the small village of Alonka (Khabarovsk Territory). He has two older sisters. Sergey's mother worked as a cook in a village kindergarten, and his father worked as a railway fitter. Sergey was a versatile child: he attended a local history club, a knitting and crocheting club, went skiing, practiced the Chinese martial art of kung fu, and also went to volleyball and basketball clubs.\nAfter school, Sergey trained as an electric locomotive driver assistant at the Khabarovsk College. A year later, he returned to his native village of Alonka, and the next year he continued his studies at the Transbaikal College, located in Chernyshevsk (Chita Region). Having received a qualification, Sergey, together with his relatives, moved to the city of Vyazemsky, where he still lives.\nWhile training in Khabarovsk, Sergey began to study the Bible. He was impressed by the accuracy of the prophecies from the Holy Scriptures, which are being fulfilled in our time. He became convinced of the existence of the Creator, and in 2014 he firmly decided to become a Christian.\nIn 2016, Sergey started his alternative civilian service. His convictions which do not allow him to take up arms motivated him to do so. For almost two years he worked in a psychiatric hospital.\nSergey worked as a cook, waiter, sales assistant, carpenter's assistant and janitor. Also in his life there is a place for his favorite activities—playing the ukulele and electric guitar. In addition, he is fond of photography and keeps in shape with workouts on the pull-up bar and parallel bars.\nSergey lost his job because of the criminal prosecution. His relatives do not understand how in our time peaceful Christians can be prosecuted, accusing them of extremism.\n","date":"2021-04-23","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/kuznetsovs/photo_hu_ae90476858ea0a5a.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/kuznetsovs/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/kuznetsovs/photo_hu_a31e93c5e31a08e0.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/kuznetsovs/photo_hu_fa465ef5b55072f.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/kuznetsovs.html","regions":["khabarovsk"],"tags":["elderly","disability","health-risk"],"title":"Sergey Kuznetsov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"For a long time, the security forces followed the peaceful life of Aleksey Lelikov, a pianist-teacher from Krasnodar. As a result, he was accused of extremism because of his religion.\nAleksey was born in August 1960 in Krasnodar. His father was a musician-vocalist, and his mother was a film engineer. When Aleksey was 21 and his younger brother was only 12, their father died.\nAt the age of 8, Aleksey began learning to play the piano. In 1977, he graduated with honors from the music school for children. Also, from the age of 12, he began to play football at the youth sports school and for 5 years he played for the city team. Aleksey was fond of fishing since childhood and loved to read.\nAfter he finished school, Lelikov entered the piano department of the Krasnodar Musical College named after N. A. Rimskiy-Korsakov. A year later, he was drafted into the army. Upon his return, he became a member of the Communist Party, since in the party charter he was attracted by the ideas of universal brotherhood and peace on earth. Aleksey continued his studies in music and, having received the specialty of a piano teacher, entered the music and pedagogical department of the Krasnodar State Institute of Culture, from which he graduated with honors with a degree in music teaching. He was a Lenin Scholar and winner of the interuniversity competition \u0026quot;Profession—Music Teacher\u0026quot;.\nAleksey got acquainted with his future wife, Irina, in his youth—they lived in the neighborhood. In April 1979, they got married. Irina is a weaving production technician by profession. She likes to cook, bake pies, listen to music and go to the theater, go to the forest, pick mushrooms and enjoy nature as much as her health allows (Irina has a visual disability of group II, Aleksey was also assigned a disability group II in April 2022 due to impaired motor functions). The Lelikovs enjoy daily walks around the neighborhood of their rural territory partnership: they watch plants and animals, listen to birdsong and take care of pets. The Lelikovs have two adult children and a granddaughter.\nAleksey worked by profession for a long time in various educational institutions: he was an accompanist, piano teacher, head of a choir circle, teacher of music and world art culture, artist-vocalist of a chamber choir. In 1994 he became a finalist in the competition \u0026quot;Teacher of the Year\u0026quot; in Krasnodar. At the same time, he was a soloist of the folklore ensemble \u0026quot;Krinitsa\u0026quot;, which in 1994 became a laureate of the All-Russian competition \u0026quot;Young Voices of Russia\u0026quot;. Also in the early 1990s, Lelikov, together with his daughter, toured with a vocal ensemble of folk art. In recent years, Aleksey has been teaching singing, as well as playing the piano.\nUntil the age of 33, he played in the football team for the championship of the city and the region. But due to the progressive disease of the joints, this hobby had to be abandoned.\nAleksey and Irina met Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses in 1993 through friends. Aleksey said: \u0026quot;My wife and I were in search of happiness, peace in the family and the meaning of life, but we did not find answers. At that time, having read a lot of books, I was very disappointed in philosophers. The opinion of some person for me was no longer authority. Therefore, it was very touching that Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses answered all the many questions only with the help of the Bible.\u0026quot; According to Lelikov, thanks to knowledge from the Holy Scriptures, relations in their family have strengthened, and \u0026quot;life has gained real meaning.\u0026quot; In 1994 Aleksey and Irina became Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nThe Lelikovs lived in different cities of Russia: in Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Volgodonsk. In 2015, they had to return to Krasnodar, where Aleksey cared for his seriously ill mother until her death.\nIn January 2022, Aleksey faced persecution for his faith. He said: \u0026quot;All the investigative measures disrupted the usual way of life of each family member. We got sleep disorder, headaches became more frequent from tension and frequent calls from the investigator demanding this or that... eavesdrop and spy on your family\u0026#39;s life 24 hours a day.\u0026quot;\nRelatives of the Lelikovs, including those who do not share their beliefs, worry about them. Aleksey said: \u0026quot;They cannot believe that I am accused of crimes, and even more so of such a serious one. They cannot understand what kind of extremism they are talking about and what relation to extremism their loved one has, with whom they have excellent relations. What is happening is perceived as complete absurdity and injustice.\n","date":"2022-07-14","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/lelikov/photo_hu_c8f0272af326954c.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/lelikov/photo_hu_7817634c15f472aa.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/lelikov/photo_hu_2c89ab108152dd75.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/lelikov/photo_hu_66d4314ad74c5487.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/lelikov.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["disability","elderly"],"title":"Aleksey Lelikov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In July 2020, Igor Lonchakov from Vladivostok became another victim of law enforcement officers. Their threats turned for a peaceful believer who is struggling with a chronic disease and two months of hospitalization. Immediately after being discharged from the hospital, he was taken under escort to the Investigative Committee and charged with extremism. In January 2025, the court sentenced the man to 7 years in a penal colony.\nIgor was born in December 1977 in Saratov, and 5 years later moved with his parents to Vladivostok. He grew up as an active child: he loved to play football and hockey. After high school, he entered law school. During this period, his mother began to study the Bible, and her son joined her in this one 12 years later.\nIn 2006, Igor faced serious problems and began to turn to God for help. Seeing the answers to his prayers, he wanted to learn more about the Creator, got rid of bad habits and broke with bad company. In 2008, Igor became a Christian. \u0026quot;I realized that life has meaning, and our Creator tells us about it,\u0026quot; Igor shared. \u0026quot;Now I live happily, in harmony with God\u0026#39;s advice.\u0026quot;\nAfter college, having obtained the specialty of lawyer-jurist, Igor for some time worked as a district police inspector in the Department of Internal Affairs. Before the criminal prosecution, he worked as a 1st class specialist at the Russian Post. In his spare time, he likes to explore the world around him, spend time in nature, and communicate with friends. Igor is not married. He has two children. The youngest minor daughter is his dependant.\nAccording to Igor, knowledge from the Bible helps him cope with his worries. His elderly parents try to support his son, who is on disability group III.\n","date":"2020-10-22","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/lonchakov/photo_hu_f83501e8a168cd44.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/lonchakov/photo_hu_3942deeb7fc87686.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/lonchakov/photo_hu_d8f6907893d659b4.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/lonchakov/photo_hu_30e9a50950f4f67a.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/lonchakov.html","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Igor Lonchakov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In the summer of 2021, Aleksandr Lubin, a disabled person of group II, was searched, and then he was sent to a pre-trial detention center, endangering the life of an elderly man. Due to the harsh conditions of detention, the condition of the believer became critical. After 20 days, at the request of the ECHR, he was released from custody. Shortly after his conviction, on November 11, 2024, at the age of 68, he passed away.\nAleksandr was born in 1956 in the village of Ogonyok (Kurgan region). In his youth, he was fond of sports: Greco-Roman wrestling and skiing. He also loved fishing.\nAfter school, Aleksandr graduated from the Kurgan Engineering Institute. For 25 years, he worked as an occupational safety engineer at the Siberian-Ural Energy Company of Shadrinsk.\nAleksandr married Tatyana in August 2001. For almost 25 years she worked as a stamping operator at the Shadrinsk Automobile Unit Plant. In the 1990s, she had to work three jobs to clothe and feed two children. Tatiana loves to knit, sing and dance.\nLife difficulties, poor health, as well as Tatyana\u0026#39;s physical condition prompted Aleksandr to start reading the Bible for his wife, as she could not do it on her own—the woman had suffered several strokes. Biblical truths interested him in their logic. The knowledge gained from this book helped both spouses to free themselves from despair caused by adversity and change their outlook on life. In 2003, they decided to become Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nLubin had a serious vascular disease, hypertension, as well as an autoimmune disease that affected various organs. He needed humidified oxygen for 16 hours daily. It was difficult for the believer to walk, and in the event of a fall, he could not get up without assistance. Due to criminal prosecution, Aleksandr lost the opportunity to receive planned medical treatment, which he underwent several times a year: in 2020 alone, he was hospitalized 8 times.\nAleksandr\u0026#39;s arrest also affected the poor health of his wife Tatyana: during the search, she suffered a fourth stroke. A woman\u0026#39;s blood pressure often rises, heart and speech problems begin, and her legs begin to fail.\nRelatives, neighbors and former colleagues believe they were outraged by the abuse of the elderly man. Many people knew Aleksandr as a peace-loving, kind person, always ready to help others.\n","date":"2021-08-13","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/lubin/photo_hu_ff5ac903be6cc7ed.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/lubin/photo_hu_7f1c8eba6cb97c98.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/lubin/photo_hu_937ea85434f1f6ae.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/lubin/photo_hu_9be3c28089e3b6ca.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/lubin.html","regions":["kurgan"],"tags":["disability","elderly","health-risk","died","echr"],"title":"Aleksandr Lubin","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Search, detention, criminal case for faith—all this happened to Anatoliy Marunov in October 2021. A peaceful believer from Moscow, an exemplary family man, married for almost half a century and having two grown-up sons, suddenly found himself accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization.\nAnatoliy was born in November 1953 in the city of Izmail (Ukraine) and was the only child in the officer\u0026#39;s family. During his school years he was engaged in ship modeling, and also studied at a music school, accordion class. For some time Anatoliy lived in Tallinn.\nAfter the army, in 1973, Anatoliy moved from Tallinn to Moscow and entered the philological faculty of Moscow State University. After studying there for 3 years, he was forced to leave school to take care of his family. For almost 40 years, Anatoliy worked in the publishing house and printing house of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, which for a long time was the central printed organ of the USSR and Russian Federation Ministry of Defense. Anatoliy\u0026#39;s responsibilities included prepress—typesetting and layout of text, processing of illustrations. He is now retired. In his spare time, he likes to do car maintenance himself.\nWhile studying at Moscow State University, Anatoly met Alfiya, who in 1975 became his wife. Three years before the birth of her children, she worked in the housing department of the Moscow executive committee, and in the last more than 10 years as a tutor in Russian language and literature. Alfiya is also fond of theater and music. The couple raised two sons. One of them graduated from the Academy of Choral Art, and the second from the Moscow Polygraphic College.\nAlfiya has always been interested in religion, and by starting to study the Bible, she found answers to important questions for her. In 1994, she embarked on the Christian path. Anatoliy joined her 5 years later—in 1999. He was impressed by the consistency and consistency of the Bible, as well as the accuracy of the prophecies being fulfilled.\nThe criminal prosecution completely changed the life of the Marunovs couple. Relatives are perplexed about the charges brought against Anatoliy. As far as they can, they support the Marunovs emotionally and financially.\n","date":"2021-11-10","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/marunov/photo_hu_533d0accb93cfe0f.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/marunov/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/marunov/photo_hu_6dcc7b213b392023.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/marunov/photo_hu_a3561eef27b9e212.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/marunov.html","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["elderly","health-risk","disability"],"title":"Anatoliy Marunov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In September 2020, Denis Peresunko lost his wife Olga who had the same views. She died from the aftereffects of the coronavirus. This tragedy took place against the backdrop of a criminal prosecution against a believer that began in 2019.\nDenis was born in March 1978 in Volgograd. He has a younger sister. Denis received the profession of a turner.\nPrior to his acquaintance with Bible teachings, Denis had problems with alcohol. At some point, he prayed to God for help. Two days later, Jehovah's Witnesses came to him. His Bible study, which he began with their help, was, in his conviction, the answer to prayer: he was able to cope with his addiction and change his lifestyle.\nNow Denis is on disability: he suffered a spinal injury and also suffers from several chronic diseases. The death of his wife exacerbated the stress of the criminal prosecution, which worsened Denis's illness. Relatives who do not share his faith consider the sentence imposed on Denis for his religious views as unmotivated.\n","date":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/peresunko/photo_hu_36b0e16086331611.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/peresunko/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/peresunko/photo_hu_a6f9de2aec7dbbeb.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/peresunko/photo_hu_3d9c5b4d5acf0ed9.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/peresunko.html","regions":["volgograd"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Denis Peresunko","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Andrey Perminov, who was confined to a wheelchair from his youth, lost his father in 2021, who died of coronavirus at the age of 93. Another shock was that law enforcement officers considered Andrey a dangerous criminal because of his faith in Jehovah God.\nAndrey was born in May 1972 in the city of Asha, Chelyabinsk Region. One of his two elder brothers died tragically before the birth of Andrey. The whole family felt the bitterness of loss for many years.\nAs a child, Andrey loved to read books, went to the volleyball, wrestling and skiing sections. However, he had to leave the sport due to an illness that confined him to a wheelchair.\nIn 2000 Andrey graduated from Chelyabinsk State University with a degree in Accounting and Auditing. He worked as an accountant and assistant auditor for the city's disabled society, then became a website administrator and programmer.\nAndrey was worried about the future, the development of technologies, improving the living conditions of people. Since childhood, he deeply thought about the meaning and transience of life. In 1995, Andrey began to study the Bible with his parents, and in 1999 he embarked on the Christian path. Although the parents did not end up joining their son, they approved of his views. Father even took Andrey to church services in a wheelchair.\nIn the same period, in 1995, Andrey met Natalya, who, like him, appreciated biblical principles. He liked her for her kindness, attention and compassion for people. In June 2015, Andrey and Natalya got married. They love to spend time together and, if possible, are in nature. Andrey is also interested in programming languages and loves to watch videos on the construction of roads and bridges, and Natalya takes care of the garden in her free time.\nThe search and criminal prosecution disrupted the usual rhythm of the life of believers. The attitude of law enforcement officers to them as to criminals is very unpleasant for the Perminovs. Any knock on the door or the sound of an approaching car now triggers an alarm.\nRelatives and friends of the Perminovs are surprised that just because of reading the Bible, one could be accused of a serious crime. Andrey's elderly mother is sick and knows nothing about the criminal case, as it would become a serious stress for her.\n","date":"2021-12-28","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/perminov/photo_hu_5f8f166e1581bba3.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/perminov/photo_hu_b5871ea2c71a77ea.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/perminov/photo_hu_491c908cdb3ab7bc.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/perminov/photo_hu_7e7ba6033fa5eb86.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/perminov.html","regions":["chelyabinsk"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Andrey Perminov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"December 2020 was a particularly difficult period in the life of Nikolay Prokhorov: he lost his mother, and 10 days later his house was searched. In his youth, Nikolay dreamed of a just world and believed in the ideals of communism, in which he soon became disillusioned, but later found a firm hope for the future thanks to the Bible. Paradoxically, it was precisely because of his love for the Holy Scriptures that the believer found himself under investigation.\nNikolaiy was born in March 1964 in the village of Morshan in the Kirsanovsky District of the Tambov Region into a simple working-class family. In 1985 he graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile Command School of Air Defense and entered the army. He served in the Moscow region and in the Far North. In 1993 he quit his job and moved to Sevastopol, where he took up business.\nIn 2000, Nikolay met his future wife Yelena, who worked in an atelier. In 2005, they moved to Kirsanov to care for Nikolay's mother, and in 2008 they got married after learning about Bible norms regarding marriage. “I began to study the Bible because of the behavior of Jehovah's Witnesses, which was very different from what I had experienced before. I realized that I had found the truth, ”says Nikolay. Since 2008 he has been a committed Christian.\nThe couple raised two children: son Vasiliy and daughter Alyona, who already live separately. The daughter works in a web design studio, the son is in college. Nikolay is fond of swimming and making herbal preparations, Yelena loves to cook. Also, the spouses travel with pleasure and watch biathlon competitions.\nBecause of the criminal case, Nikolay lost his job, and the family was left without the main income. The man worked for 16 years at the Kirsanov Electric Networks enterprise, from where he was dismissed the next day after the search. Colleagues wonder why a peaceful, responsible employee is accused of organizing extremist activities only because of his convictions. Nikolay's relatives are also outraged by the unfair accusations against him.\n","date":"2021-01-14","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/prokhorov/photo_hu_d85f9eef3cbce513.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/prokhorov/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/prokhorov/photo_hu_401d8527701d2f4e.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/prokhorov/photo_hu_f077c00b9dba7a54.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/prokhorov.html","regions":["tambov"],"tags":["elderly","disability"],"title":"Nikolay Prokhorov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Aleksey Shubnikov is a group I disabled person who has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 16. However, this did not prevent law enforcement officers from suspecting him of extremism and starting a criminal case.\nAleksey was born in June 1982 in Nizhnevartovsk, Tyumen region. He has a younger brother and sister. For some time, the family lived in the city of Langepas (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area), and in the early 2000s they moved to the Krasnodar Territory and settled in the village of Vyselki.\nAs a child, Aleksey was an active child. He loved skiing, went to a wood carving circle, often went to nature with his parents, went fishing, went to the forest for berries and mushrooms. The family spent the whole summer in the country house. But then a tragedy happened: the young man fell from a tree and received a serious spinal injury. This influenced the rest of his life. Yet, despite his physical limitations, he was able to earn a degree in accounting and economics. Being on disability, Aleksey does not work. He lives with his parents and still loves to fish, to be in nature, to discover new places.\nIn the mid-2000s, Aleksey began his acquaintance with biblical teachings. He recalls: \u0026quot;I was always worried about the questions: what happens to a person when he dies? Will we ever see our dead loved ones? When I learned that soon everyone would be healthy, that I would be able to run again, it affected me greatly. Before, I didn\u0026#39;t even hope to walk again, I thought that my life was over and had no meaning. Aleksey was impressed by the logical and simple answers from the Bible to his questions, and he was also touched by the friendliness and attention paid to him by other Christians. In 2008, Aleksey himself decided to embark on the Christian path.\nThe criminal prosecution made life difficult for Aleksey. He says: \u0026quot;For the first days after the search, I was in constant tension, I had problems sleeping and lost my appetite. After a while, I began to come to my senses, there was inner peace. But still, every call at the door or on the phone causes tension. Due to the restrictions imposed by the court, the already difficult life of Aleksey became even more difficult.\nAleksey\u0026#39;s relatives are worried about him. The father\u0026#39;s health has deteriorated; the mother worries about the future of her son.\n","date":"2022-03-14","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/shubnikov/photo_hu_2cb3bb4623e86a48.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/shubnikov/photo_hu_50cab17f26418bbd.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/shubnikov/photo_hu_a618b8a926a03ecf.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/shubnikov/photo_hu_4e3f289168cafe42.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/shubnikov.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Aleksey Shubnikov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Lyudmila Shut, a widow and disabled person of group II, faced repression for her faith in 2019, when she was 72. First, she was interrogated in the case of a fellow believer and then accused of extremism.\nLyudmila was born in 1947 in the city of Makarov on Sakhalin. At an early age, the girl was left without a father. Growing up, she, as the eldest child in the family, helped her mother take care of her three sisters and brother. In her free time, Lyudmila liked skiing and horseback riding.\nAfter school, the girl went to work, changing several professions during her long working life: she was a turner, milkmaid, foreman of a tractor-field brigade and manager of a state farm, and managed a warehouse. Lyudmila was married, raised three children and became a grandmother.\nThe woman got acquainted with the Bible in the early 2000s. She was especially moved by Bible prophecies, which have already come true, and God\u0026#39;s promises about the future. In December 2003, she became one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nYears later, peaceful Lyudmila had to defend her faith in court. In her final statement, she said: \u0026quot;I have suffered many misfortunes in my life. I can hardly move on crutches, so as not to be a burden to anyone. After the search in my apartment on July 19, 2018, and to this day, I am stressed. My health condition has deteriorated.\u0026quot; The youngest daughter, son and friends provided the believer with the necessary support during the criminal prosecution. Lyudmila died in the summer of 2025 because of a heart attack.\n","date":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/shut/photo_hu_e96e9199bb6b4451.JPG","jpg2x":"/prisoners/shut/photo_hu_102352de09c04058.JPG","webp":"/prisoners/shut/photo_hu_1465438424e78060.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/shut/photo_hu_21f58f7a8870e7f7.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/shut.html","regions":["primorye"],"tags":["elderly","disability","died"],"title":"Lyudmila Shut","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In his youth, Vladimir Skachidub had to experience many difficulties. At the age of 25, after the death of his parents, he became the guardian of his 15-year-old sister, and in 2003 she died of leukemia. In 2020, a criminal case was opened against him for believing in God, thanks to whom he put his life in order.\nVladimir was born in December 1961 in the village of Pavlovskaya. Even as a child, his mother wanted to instill in her son a love of music and sent him to a music school in the accordion class. Musical education was not in vain, and he independently mastered the guitar. Even at school he was fond of photography.\nAfter graduating from school, Vladimir got a job as an apprentice of a turner at the Pavlovsky automobile plant and received the specialty of a turner of the 2nd category. After serving in the army, he entered the Taganrog Radio Engineering Institute, but the riotous student life did not lead to anything good - Vladimir was expelled on the second year. He had to get a job as a turner at the Taganrog plant \"Vibropribor\". The plans were to continue studying at the correspondence department, but the death of his parents changed everything. After the tragedy, he had to return to his native village, to his sister. There he again got a job as a turner at the Pavlovsky car repair plant (now the Pavlovsky Experimental Plant LLC).\nFor the first time, Vladimir heard about the Bible from his future wife Galina, who he met with the help of his sister Natalia. The women then became acquainted with Jehovah's Witnesses and began to study the Bible more deeply. Vladimir often asked his sister about the teachings from this book. He was impressed by the way the Bible explains creation. In the past, Vladimir and Galina were fond of drinking alcoholic beverages and tobacco smoking, studying the Bible, they realized that they needed to change. In 1997, the couple legalized their relationship by getting married. Later, in the late 90s, Vladimir dedicated his life to God, and Galina joined her husband in 2016, when she was able to completely overcome bad habits.\nGalina is a sociable person, she loves to cultivate flowers. She worked as a cheese maker. Vladimir likes to read the Bible and play the guitar in his free time. Vladimir is a disabled person of the III group, and Galina has disability of II group. Persecution for the faith aggravates the health of the spouses, but they try not to lose heart: \"Without the Bible, we would not only be able to overcome everything, but we would hardly be alive at all.\"\n","date":"2021-06-10","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/skachidub/photo_hu_99dd02614b20833e.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/skachidub/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/skachidub/photo_hu_ad642098a9119a9e.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/skachidub/photo_hu_6026f269703b232.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/skachidub.html","regions":["krasnodar"],"tags":["disability","elderly"],"title":"Vladimir Skachidub","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"The Stefanidin family was subjected to searches twice, in 2021 and 2022, because of their religion as Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses. The stress experienced unexpectedly undermined the health of the young head of the family, resulting in a disability.\nYevgeniy Stefanidin was born in July 1989 in the city of Izhevsk (Udmurtia). From childhood he was fond of active sports; he played football and hockey. Yevgeniy loves fishing and football to this day. After school, Stefanidin qualified as a tiler. At first he worked in construction, and later moved into commercial real estate.\nFrom childhood, Yevgeniy showed an interest in reading the Bible. When he became acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, he was impressed by the accuracy of the fulfillment of Bible prophecies. At the age of 17, Yevgeniy was baptized as one of Jehovah\u0026#39;s Witnesses.\nIn 2011, Yevgeniy married Marina. His wife is a tailor-cutter by profession, and in her spare time she knits and draws. In 2013, the couple had a daughter. She loves to draw, make cards and other handcrafts.\nIn April 2021, law enforcement officers searched Yevgeniy\u0026#39;s home. The incident greatly frightened the couple\u0026#39;s daughter. To this day, the Stefanidins react anxiously to every knock on the door. The stress he experienced caused the believer to have problems sleeping, and two months later, Yevgeniy began to have difficulty breathing. During an examination, doctors discovered a tumor in his chest. His state of health continued to deteriorate, and in the fall of 2022, Yevgeniy was categorized as disabled. According to doctors, the malignant tumor that has rapidly grown since the summer of 2021 could be the result of an emotional shock.\nThe believer was on sick leave until mid-December 2022. One morning, when he was about to go to work, the law enforcement officers again came to him, conducted a search and took him for interrogation. His employer appreciates Yevgeniy for his honesty and conscientious work. Despite the criminal prosecution, the believer did not lose his job.\nRelatives and friends are worried about Yevgeniy\u0026#39;s health. His father, although he does not share his religious beliefs, does not understand how an innocent and at the same time seriously ill person could be thrown behind bars just because he does not want to give up his faith in God. Adding to the worries is the fact that Yevgeniy\u0026#39;s brother, Aleksandr, is being prosecuted on similar charges.\n","date":"2023-02-17","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/stefanidin/photo_hu_b18998e1898df8c7.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/stefanidin/photo_hu_f31b39e33ccb52ab.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/stefanidin/photo_hu_b77728f1f327a1bc.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/stefanidin/photo_hu_965fd27e91db20f1.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/stefanidin.html","regions":["udmurtia"],"tags":["disability","families"],"title":"Yevgeniy Stefanidin","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In April 2022, Vladimir Usenko was accused of extremism merely because of his belief in Jehovah God. He has a class-three disability, and the criminal prosecution has had a negative impact on his health.\nVladimir was born in the city of Yoshkar-Ola in September 1955. He and his younger sister grew up in a family of engineers. Their parents are no longer alive.\nAs a child, Vladimir was fond of music and soccer. He studied at the Kazan Institute of Physical Education at the Department of Football and Hockey. At the age of 19, Vladimir interrupted his studies and began to play in the soccer teams of the cities of Yoshkar-Ola and Kazan.\nAfter the end of his soccer career, Vladimir returned to his hometown, where he got a job as a grinder at a factory and then as a boiler house operator at a thermal power plant. He is now retired and is still interested in music and soccer, but as a spectator.\nIn 1986 Vladimir married Nelly, a coworker at the plant. Now she is retired. The couple has two adult children—a son and a daughter.\nIn his youth, Vladimir was not a believer, but he was interested in the life of Jesus Christ. As he became acquainted with Jehovah's Witnesses, he learned that Bible prophecy is being fulfilled with accuracy. He was surprised by the logic of Bible teachings, and in 1997 he began his journey as a Christian.\nDuring the search, Vladimir's wife, who does not share his religious views, experienced severe stress. Vladimir's serious chronic illnesses were also aggravated due to the anxiety caused by the criminal prosecution.\n","date":"2023-01-05","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/usenko/photo_hu_4693034b7db2fad2.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/usenko/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/usenko/photo_hu_4ba9bf7822c766e1.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/usenko/photo_hu_907b058356c46bb8.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/usenko.html","regions":["mari-el"],"tags":["elderly","disability"],"title":"Vladimir Usenko","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"In March 2021, searches were carried out in the homes of residents in Syktyvkar. Sergey Ushakhin, a group II disabled person who sufferes from insulin-dependent diabetes, was detained and later released under recognizance agreement. The criminal prosecution seriously affected the health of his wife Natalya, as well as his own. In August 2023, his condition deteriorated dramatically and he passed away.\nSergey was born in September 1961 in the urban-type settlement of Pinyug (Kirov region). The family moved to Syktyvkar when he was two years old and lived here all his life.\nIn his youth, Sergey was a weightlifter. After school, he received a secondary technical education. From 1980 to 1982 he served in the army. Sergey worked as a chauffeur, locksmith, turner, apparatus operator for the preparation of raw materials at the Syktyvkar timber industry complex.\nIn 1987, Sergey married Natalya. They raised two children—son Ruslan and daughter Tatyana. Together with his wife, Sergey began to study the Bible many years ago. They became Christians and instilled an interest in the spiritual things in their children. Natalya, Ruslan and Tatyana are outraged that the authorities accused a peaceful person of a serious crime.\n","date":"2021-04-07","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/ushakhin/photo_hu_fc7d57759af21ac6.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/ushakhin/photo_hu_572d18bfaa8b5d49.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/ushakhin/photo_hu_95f071ff8a383f82.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/ushakhin/photo_hu_4ed86ec702a4b35e.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/ushakhin.html","regions":["komi"],"tags":["died","disability","elderly"],"title":"Sergey Ushakhin","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Andrey Vlasov is a civilian resident of Prokopievsk, whom the court sentenced to 7 years in colony only because of his faith, despite his serious illness.\nAndrey was born in 1968 in Prokopyevsk. As a child, he was fond of car and aircraft modeling, drawing, went to a radio circle, played in a brass band on the clarinet, saxophone and viola.\nAndrey has been limping since childhood, as long as he can remember. With age, his illness worsened. Back in the 1990s, he could ski and bike. Andrey became disabled at an older age, when it became difficult to work due to deforming arthrosis of the hip joints.\nAndrey studied at the Siberian Metallurgical Institute in Novokuznetsk as a mechanical engineer of metal forming. Later, he received an additional specialty \u0026quot;computer operator\u0026quot;. He worked as a loader, sorter of wood, watchman, recently, before criminal prosecution, he had a photo studio, which had to be closed.\nFor about 30 years, Andrey has been living in harmony with the biblical principles that his younger brother introduced him to. Andrey was especially impressed by the fact that the biblical prophecy of Daniel, expressed about 2500 years ago, is being fulfilled before his eyes.\nIn 2003, Andrey married Nataliya. Together they raised her son from her first marriage. Nataliya works as a hairdresser, is fond of needlework, loves to cook. Andrey also likes to draw, knit, embroider in his spare time. Before the criminal prosecution, the couple traveled with pleasure. They also like to meet friends and sing songs together with guitar and accordion.\nThe persecution radically changed the life of the Vlasovs. Due to house arrest, Andrey was deprived of the opportunity to communicate with others and provide for his family. All worries about material needs fell on the shoulders of Nataliya. The stress seriously affected the health of Andrey, who has a II disability group.\nAndrey\u0026#39;s parents did not live to see such a dramatic turn in his life. The adult son of Andrey and Nataliya, their relatives, friends and neighbors cannot understand what the Vlasovs family has to do with extremism.\nIn his final statement, Andrey said: \u0026quot;What does the prosecution expect from me? For me to renounce my faith? So, it was faith in Jehovah that helped me to reform and become a worthy citizen of Russia. I am grateful to God that he helps strengthen our marriage and improve our lives. Thanks to Jehovah, I found real meaning in life and confidence in a wonderful future. A close relationship with Jehovah God is the most valuable thing I have. And I value my friendship with him, no matter what I am accused of in vain.\u0026quot;\n","date":"2020-07-21","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/vlasov/photo_hu_c00cb525d2f424d4.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/vlasov/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/vlasov/photo_hu_5730d60dce05f3a3.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/vlasov/photo_hu_a39208d82e24bed2.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/vlasov.html","regions":["kemerovo"],"tags":["disability","health-risk"],"title":"Andrey Vlasov","type":"prisoners"},{"body":"Dmitriy Yarchak has been disabled since childhood. In 2020, he was searched and the believer was accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization. After three years, the court sentenced him to six years of suspended sentence for peaceful religious beliefs.\nDmitriy was born in Nizhnekamsk in February 1984. He has a younger sister. The mother is retired, the father is already dead.\nAfter graduating from school, Dmitriy received the profession of an accountant-economist, worked in his specialty, including an accountant in a rehabilitation center for disabled children. Later he worked as a sales manager in the telecommunications sector.\nFrom childhood, Dmitriy wanted to know what the Bible says, and in his teens he began to study it. He was impressed by what he learned from this book, especially about the person of God. At the age of 18, Dmitriy decided that he would live according to biblical principles and devoted his life to serving God.\nIn 2010 Dmitriy married Svetlana. They have many common interests. She shares his views on life and supports her husband in everything. Dmitriy has good relationships with work colleagues and many friends with whom he loves to spend time.\nAccording to Dmitriy, the criminal prosecution affected the emotional state of the spouses. He says, \u0026quot;Any knock on the door is alarming.\u0026quot; Dmitriy\u0026#39;s mother and sister, as well as Svetlana\u0026#39;s parents, were worried about what happened. They wonder how peaceful believers can be equated with criminals.\n\u0026quot;I am not ashamed of my life, I am not ashamed to look people in the eye,\u0026quot; Dmitriy said in his final statement in court. \u0026quot;I\u0026#39;m here for good deeds. And as we know, good always wins.\u0026quot;\n","date":"2021-11-01","image":{"jpg":"/prisoners/yarchak/photo_hu_68c1a7717ec86370.jpg","jpg2x":"/prisoners/yarchak/photo.jpg","webp":"/prisoners/yarchak/photo_hu_40e36b91cc1fed7b.webp","webp2x":"/prisoners/yarchak/photo_hu_41b15a7ee57e6dcd.webp"},"permalink":"/en/prisoners/yarchak.html","regions":["tatarstan"],"tags":["disability"],"title":"Dmitriy Yarchak","type":"prisoners"}]