Bogatov Aleksey

Name: Bogatov Aleksey Viktorovich
Date of Birth: August 10, 1960
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 304 day in a pre-trial detention
Current restrictions: suspended sentence
Sentence: punishment in the form of 6 years of imprisonment, with deprivation of the right to lead public organizations for a term of 5 years, with restriction of liberty for a term of 1 year, punishment in the form of imprisonment shall be considered conditional with a probationary period of 4 years

Biography

All his life, Aleksey Bogatov had been searching for justice. Bible study helped him find answers to his troubling questions, and in 1994 he became one of Jehovah's Witnesses. 27 years later, the believer was prosecuted for his beliefs.

Aleksey was born in 1960 in the village of Baklushi (Ulyanovsk Region). He has a sister. As a child, Aleksey was fond of hockey, football, skiing and swimming. After school, he received the profession of an engine maintenance technician at the Astrakhan nautical school.

In 1982, Aleksey married Lyubov, with whom he studied together at school from the 4th grade. The couple raised three sons. In their leisure time, the Bogatovs like to go to the forest for mushroom foraging. They enjoy swimming in the Volga and playing chess. Lyubov is now retired. She is fond of knitting. In his free time, Aleksey used to go to the gym and ride a bicycle. For some time, the believer worked at the fire station, and before his arrest, he worked as a driver at a medical center in Balakovo.

Relatives painfully endure the arrest of Aleksey and consider the criminal prosecution unfair. They do not understand why an honest and decent person is accused of extremism and inciting hatred.

Case History

In 2021, the residents of the city of Balakovo were under surveillance, their conversations were recorded. Considering peaceful discussions of the Bible to be extremism, the FSB initiated a criminal case and received permission to search the homes of the believers. A month later, security forces invaded eight homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Aleksey Bogatov, Vladimir Mavrin, Yevgeniy Fomashin, Andrey Murych and Sergey Tyurin were placed in a temporary holding facility after interrogations held at night. Two days later, they were transfered to a pretrial detention center 170 km from home. They spent 10 months in custody. In January 2023, the court ruled to change the preventive measure against the believers to a ban on certain actions. In November 2023, the district court announced the verdict: Aleksey Bogatov and Vladimir Mavrin a 6-yesr suspended sentence; Andrey Murych, Sergey Tyurin and Yevgeniy Fomashin fined 300,000 rubles.
Timeline
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