Aleksandr Nikolayev with his wife Yevgeniya, mother-in-law and five children at the exit of the penal colony. September 2023

Aleksandr Nikolayev with his wife Yevgeniya, mother-in-law and five children at the exit of the penal colony. September 2023

Aleksandr Nikolayev with his wife Yevgeniya, mother-in-law and five children at the exit of the penal colony. September 2023

Served Sentences

Aleksandr Nikolayev, Father of Five, Convicted for His Faith, Was Released from the Penal Colony

Krasnodar Territory

On September 19, 2023, Aleksandr Nikolayev, a father of five, was released from the penal colony in Khadyzhensk, where he spent almost a year for his faith in Jehovah God. The believer was met by his wife and children, and mother-in-law. At the exit of the penal colony FSB and OMON officers were on duty, and there were several police vans.

The verdict - 2.5 years imprisonment - was handed down to Nikolayev in December 2021. Aleksandr was the first believer to be given a prison sentence after the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, explaining that participating in meetings for worship is not a reason for conviction under Article 282.2 of RF CrC. Despite this, he was found guilty of extremism for reading a Bible passage via videoconferencing.

Aleksandr was detained in September 2021. In total, he spent 13 months in a pretrial detention center and 11 months in a penal colony. For some of the time, he was held in strict detention conditions. The believer was also denied parole. All this time, Aleksandr was strengthened by letters of support coming from around the world.

In the Krasnodar Territory, 32 of Jehovah's Witnesses are already being prosecuted for their faith, 6 of them are in penal colonies. On September 15, Maksim Beltikov from the village of Pavlovskaya was released from prison.

The Case of Nikolayev in Kholmskaya

Case History
In April 2021, FSB officers, accompanied by riot police, searched the home of the Nikolayevs who are the parents of five children, two of whom are adopted. Shortly before this, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Aleksandr Nikolayev for participating in extremist activity because he read the Bible at a meeting for worship. In July 2021, the case went to court. Two months later, the believer was sent to a pretrial detention center, and in December of the same year, the court sentenced him to 2.5 years in a penal colony. By the time the verdict entered into force, Nikolayev had served more than half of the sentence in the detention center. The believer was taken to the penal colony in March 2023 and the next month he asked the court for parole but was refused. At the end of July 2023, the court of cassation upheld the verdict, lifting the additional restrictions after release. Nikolayev was released from the penal colony in September 2023.
Timeline

Persons in case

Nikolayev
Aleksandr

Criminal case

Region:
Krasnodar Territory
Locality:
Kholmskaya
Suspected of:
"through information and telecommunication networks... entered into conversations and religious discussions, participated in collective discussions of the content of religious books of "Jehovah's Witnesses", including the so-called Holy Scriptures (Bible)... emphasizing that these books contain true knowledge about God" (from the verdict of the court)
Court case number:
12107030001000016
Initiated:
March 31, 2021
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Krasnodar Territory
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (2)
Court case number:
1-195/2021
Court:
Abinskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory
Judge:
Nikolay Surmach
Case History
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