Name: Chechulin Sergey Vyacheslavovich
Date of Birth: September 15, 1968
Current status: defendant
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Current restrictions: recognizance agreement

Biography

On the morning of October 17, 2022, security forces raided Sergey Chechulin's workplace and took him away for interrogation. He learned that a criminal case had been initiated against him and his wife, Yelena, for believing in Jehovah God.

Sergey was born in September 1968 in the village of Tymlat, Kamchatka Territory. He grew up in an orphanage. He has a younger sister. As a child, Sergey was fond of photography.

After school, the young man was trained as a ship mechanic at a vocational school. Then he worked as a loader in a warehouse, and he recently worked for a heating company as a level-five repairman.

When Sergey began to read the Bible, he was surprised by its accuracy, logic, and practical value. In 1995 he was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Sergey is married to Yelena, who works as a nurse. She shares her husband's religious views. In 2002 the couple had a son, who now has his own family.

Sergey has lived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky all his life. He loves to go hiking. He has been on several hiking tours in Crimea and Arkhyz.

The criminal prosecution shocked Sergey's friends and coworkers, since many know him as a respectable worker and citizen. He said: “At first I felt insecure and restless, and I did not sleep well, but now I am strengthened by the help of Jehovah and fellow believers.”

Case History

Sergey Chechulin and his wife Yelena became defendants in yet another criminal case against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. In September 2022, the Investigative Committee initiated a case against them on suspicion of organizing the activity of an extremist organization. A month later, their home was searched, and the couple was placed under a recognizance agreement. In November 2023, the case went to court, where the charge was reclassified as participating in the activity of an extremist organization. The prosecutor requested 6 years in a penal colony for the Chechulins. In April 2024, the couple was given a 2-year suspended sentence. The court of appeal upheld this decision, yet in October of the same year, court of cassation sent the case for retrial.
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