Jehovah's Witnesses released statistics on the persecution of their fellow believers as of December 23, 2022. By this time, criminal prosecution had already affected 674 believers who were in the status of accused, suspected, defendants, convicted or acquitted, 77 of them were prosecuted in 2022 (in 2021 - 142, in 2020 - 146, in 2019 - 213).

Four believers were sentenced to imprisonment for more than six years. On September 5, 2023, the Amur Regional Court approved the verdict of Jehovah's Witnesses Vladimir Bukin, Valery Slashchev, Sergei Yuferov and Mikhail Burkov. Earlier, on June 23, 2023, the Tyndinsky District Court of the Amur Region sentenced Bukin Slashchev and Yuferov to six years and four months in a general regime colony under Part 1 of Art.

Four believers were sentenced to more than six years in prison, and their case was retried. On June 23, 2023, the Tyndinsky District Court of the Amur Region sentenced four Jehovah's Witnesses. Vladimir Bukin, Valery Slashchev and Sergey Yuferov were each assigned six years and four months in a general regime colony under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization) and part 1.1 of Art.

The following is our review of the primary and most representative events in the misuse of Russia's anti-extremist legislation in November 2022. Lawmaking On November 11, Russia’s Ministry of Justice published a draft procedure for creating a unified information register of persons involved in the activity of extremist or terrorist organizations.

Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeny Bitusov were found guilty of organizing the activities of a banned community. On March 31, 2023, the Amur Regional Court considered appeals against the sentence of Leonid Druzhinin and Yevgeny Bitusov, Jehovah's Witnesses from Zeya, convicted under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization).

He was sentenced to imprisonment in a strict regime colony. On December 28, 2022, it became known that the 2nd Western District Military Court found guilty of justifying terrorism (part 1 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) a prisoner in one of the colonies in the Pskov region. He was sentenced to two years, six months and five days in a strict regime colony.

Egor Butakov and Elizaveta Bychkova are charged under Part 3 of Art. 239 of the Criminal Code. On December 13, 2022, the criminal case of Elizaveta Bychkova and Yegor Butakov, former employees of the Arkhangelsk headquarters of Alexei Navalny, was transferred for consideration on the merits to the Lomonosov District Court of Arkhangelsk.

Viktor Bondarev was found guilty under articles on the rehabilitation of Nazism and slander. On December 28, the Novosibirsk Regional Court twice fined a local resident, Viktor Bondarev, for a total of 100,000 rubles. He was found guilty under Part 2 of Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code (dissemination of knowingly false information that discredits the honor and dignity of another person, committed on the Internet) and Part 4 of Art.