The Fourth Sentence in a Month in Vyselki. Vladimir Lepskiy Given Suspended Term for His Faith

On October 24, 2025, the judge of the Vyselkovskiy district court, Elizaveta Proskuryakova, sentenced Vladimir Lepskiy, 59, to 2 years of suspended sentence. The believer was accused of "reading religious books aloud," as stated in the decision to initiate the case.

Vladimir worked in the railway industry for more than 20 years: he was a train compiler and a speed regulator of wagons. He has been one of Jehovah's Witnesses for almost 30 years. In February 2022, believers in the Kuban were searched en masse, which marked the beginning of the persecution of 15 local residents. Among them was Lepskiy. The search in the house of Vladimir and the couple, Olga, lasted 7 hours. The believer recalls: "People in camouflage entered the courtyard and knocked on our doors. My Olga was scared, she was talking on the phone with her grandchildren at that time." Law enforcement officers turned over all things, the bed, looked through all the documents.

A criminal case against Lepskiy was opened 2 years later - then he no longer lived in Vyselki, but he had to return. "We have neither an apartment nor a house in the village. Thanks to the help of friends, we found an inexpensive apartment, they supported us financially. We would not have coped on our own," Vladimir shared his memories. Mentioning his forced move in his final statement, the believer added: "I could not have come here, I could have hidden, and no one would have found me. But I came because I do not consider myself guilty. I believe in Jehovah God and am his Witness."

The court considered the case of the believer for a year. "I look at the trial I faced as a new task that I received from God: to testify about it in the courts," Vladimir spoke about his mood in this difficult period of life and added: "My wife Olya noted that I have become calmer and more restrained. The examples of my fellow believers who have survived all this are of great importance."

The population of the village of Vyselki is less than 20 thousand people. However, 11 criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses have already passed through the local district court. Judge Elizaveta Proskuryakova convicted five of them.