The court confirmed the sentences of Jehovah's Witnesses from Chekhov

The Moscow Regional Court upheld the verdict in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses from Chekhov Vitaly Nikiforov, Konstantin Zherebtsov, Yuri and Zinaida Krutyakov. This was reported on the website, which covers the persecution of representatives of the confession in Russia.

In May, the Chekhov City Court imposed suspended sentences on believers on charges of organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), participation (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and involvement in the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1.1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code): Yuri Krutyakov - six years in prison, Zinaida Krutyakova - two years and three months, Konstantin Zherebtsov - two years and two months, Vitaly Nikiforov - two years.

The verdict came into force. Jehovah's Witnesses maintain their innocence.

• In June 2018, Yuri Krutyakov met Stanislav Kuznetsky, who turned out to be an FSB officer. He asked the believer to help him understand the Bible, and they had several meetings. Based on Kuznetsky’s testimony, a criminal case on extremism was opened in September 2019. Krutyakov was put on the wanted list. In March 2020, he appeared before the Investigative Committee, after which the court decided to take him into custody.
• On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court recognized the “Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” as an extremist organization, liquidated it and banned its activities in Russia. In August of the same year, all Jehovah's Witnesses organizations were added to the list of prohibited organizations. After this, criminal cases began to be opened en masse against believers.