Court in Kirsanov Sentenced 32-Year-Old Jehovah's Witness to 6.5 Years Suspended for Faith

On May 27, 2025, the Kirsanovskiy District Court found Anton Kuzhelkov guilty of extremism for holding religious meetings and preaching. "Who is being judged - me or the God in whom I believe?" he said at one of the hearings, pointing out that on the 31st page of the charge, his name is mentioned only once, and the name of God - 168 times.

In December 2020, Kuzhelkov's house was searched. "They came to our house with weapons... To us, peaceful, calm, quiet people who do no harm to anyone," Anton shared his memories, speaking with the final statement. "Why?" Apparently, they thought that we could put up some resistance... But this was not the case. Why? Jesus' disciples do not do that."

For 4.5 years of preliminary and judicial investigation, Kuzhelkov spent about 15 months in a pre-trial detention center. The arrest of the believer fell on the time of covid. "To get a date," says Alyona, Anton's wife, "I had to have an expensive test that confirmed that I was not sick with covid, stand in line, and after the documents were accepted, wait 5 hours." Later, Anton was transferred to a more remote pre-trial detention center, and a long way was added to the already difficult procedure.

Anton himself does not agree with the guilty verdict, he insists that peaceful religious activity cannot be considered a crime. The defense drew attention to violations during the examinations, which formed the basis of the verdict. Witness testimonies in court indicated that Kuzhelkov had no extremist motives. One of them said of the believer: "I was touched by his determination not to take up arms and his desire to serve in another legal way—in the nursing home, where he cared for the elderly. Not every young person is capable of this."

The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Tambov region does not abate. In February 2025, another criminal case was opened in Tambov against Andrey Mikhailov, 41. At the same time, court proceedings against Nikolai Prokhorov (he was the second defendant in the Kuzhelkov case) were suspended in February 2025 due to his cancer.