In Kovrov, A Court Found Aleksey Kupriyanov Guilty of Extremism for Believing in God. He Was Sentenced to a Penal Colony, But the Term Is Considered to Have Already Been Served

On September 15, 2023, the Kovrov City Court sentenced local resident Aleksey Kupriyanov to one year in prison and six months of restriction of liberty. Judge, Vyacheslav Kuznetsov, considered the quotation of the Bible as a proof of the believer's guilt of extremism. The term was deemed to have been served during the investigation. Kupriyanov insists on his innocence.

Back in February 2021, during mass searches and interrogations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kovrov, Aleksey faced persecution on religious grounds. The criminal case was initiated against him in June 2021. D. A. Tyumenev, an investigator of the FSB Directorate for the Vladimir Region, concluded that Kupriyanov continued the activities of the liquidated legal entity (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) by "taking part in religious meetings ... actively participated in the collection of information on the amount of work done... on the implementation of... the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses ... to the masses." Shortly Kupriyanov's home was searched again, after which the believer was detained and then placed in a pre-trial detention center.

The imprisonment lasted about four and a half months. At this time, the believer was forbidden to read the Bible, to pronounce the name of God Jehovah. For some time the letters have not been given to the believer and he was also threatened with the prosecution of his wife and son. From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. he was forced to sit on the cold floor. Also, Kupriyanov's cellmate, former detective V. V. Voskoboynikov, who was convicted for organizing torture, instructed by the pre-trial detention center personnel was putting pressure on the believer to incriminate himself. Because of this, Aleksey began to have health problems, but despite his high fever, he was not transferred to the medical unit. Subsequently, Kupriyanov had to undergo surgery.

Later, the believer was transferred to house arrest for seven months and was allowed to walk for two hours a day. In September 2022, Kupriyanov's case went to court. At the court hearings, prosecution witnesses stated that they had not heard extremist calls from the defendant. FSB officer Bordunov, who conducted operational search activities, said that Kupriyanov participated in the activities of the liquidated legal entity, but did not provide evidence of this and avoided answering most of the questions from the defense.

According to Kupriyanov, he was greatly encouraged by his wife care and fellow believers, who sent encouraging thoughts in their letters to him. Aleksey recalls: "With the help of letters and the Bible I had to supplicate in prayer day and night in order to fight the feeling of worthlessness that they tried to instill in me. It's been like that for few months." According to Aleksey, he was given strength by the opportunity to "comfort other brothers and sisters" with poems that he composed in response to their letters.

In his last plea, Aleksey Kupriyanov said: "The accusation is based only on the fact that I am a believer and that I believe in Jehovah. Your Honor, this is a trial aginst faith!" Although there is not a single victim in the case, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the believer to four years in penal colony. Considering the clarifications of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of October 28, 2021, Kupriyanov can appeal the verdict to a higher court.