Apsheronsky District Court building of the Krasnodar Territory

Apsheronsky District Court building of the Krasnodar Territory

Apsheronsky District Court building of the Krasnodar Territory

Inside Penal Colonies and Detention Centers

The Court Denied Aleksandr Nikolayev Early Release From the Penal Colony

Krasnodar Territory

On April 27, 2023, the Apsheronsky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory denied Aleksandr Nikolayev early release from the penal colony. His release is planned for the end of September 2023.

In December 2021, the Abinsky District Court sentenced Aleksandr Nikolayev, a father of many children, to 2.5 years in prison for participating in an online meeting for worship in which he read a passage from the Bible aloud. The believer spent 13 months in pre-trial detention and since February 2023 he has been in a penal colony.

In the Khadyzhensk penal colony, Nikolayev was provoked when one of the officers tried to rip off the badge from his uniform, the absence of which is usually viewed as breaking the rules.

Aleksandr does not lose heart and is grateful for letters of support from different countries: Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

In the Krasnodar Territory, already 14 Jehovah's Witnesses have been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment; five of them have served their main sentences.

At the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev explained in October 2021: “Actions that do not contain signs of extremism and consist solely of the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including through the performance of religious rites and ceremonies, do not constitute a crime”.

The case of Nikolayev in Kholmskaya

Case History
In April 2021, FSB officers, accompanied by riot police, came to search the home of Nikolayev couple 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 participation in extremist activities for reading the Bible at a meeting. In July 2021, the case went to trial. Two months later, the believer was sent to a pre-trial detention center, and in December of the same year, the court sentenced the believer to two and a half years in prison. At the time the sentence came into force, Nikolayev had served more than half of his sentence in the detention center. The believer was taken to the penal colony in March 2023 and the next month he asked a court for parole, but was refused. At the end of July 2023, the court of cassation upheld the sentence, lifted 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 "Jehovah's Witnesses", including the so-called "Holy Scripture" (Bible) ... emphasizing that these books contain true knowledge of 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:
Abinsk District Court of the Krasnodar Territory
Judge:
Nikolay Surmach
Case History
Back to top