Oleg Shidlovskiy and Aleksey Goreliy Released After More Than 5 Years of Separation from Their Families

On November 14, 2025, two of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oleg Shidlovskiy, 56, and Aleksey Goreliy, 45, were released in the Ulyanovsk region. They served their sentences in full, having spent almost 2.5 years in a pre-trial detention center and about 3 years in a colony.

Before his arrest, Shidlovskiy worked for about 30 years as a physical education teacher in one of the schools in the city of Gukovo (Rostov region). His wife Natalya, who had previously suffered three strokes, was left alone with her teenage daughter. "At the very beginning, it was difficult ... accept the fact of separation from your husband. Then a feeling of loneliness set in," she recalls. Domestic difficulties were not spared: "The roof was damaged, it began to rain, and the heating did not start. Problems came one after another... What would I do without friends!"

Oleg also felt that he was not forgotten. "I want to note the special support of those who wrote letters. Oleg said after his release. "For all five years, I received about 7600 letters. This was a really strong encouragement. I felt that I was not alone, but part of a large loving family."

In the penal colony, Oleg worked in a sewing workshop. He complained of blood pressure spikes, and the medications he was given did not always help. He lost sight in one eye. According to the ophthalmologist, he needed surgery, which could not be carried out in the colony. The administration treated the believer with respect because of his good behavior.

The only breadwinner in the family was Aleksey Goreliy, who worked as a chief accountant in production. His arrest came as a shock to her wife, Inna. She relates: "It seemed as if the ground was falling from under my feet." Raising her son, who went to first grade in 2020, fell entirely on her shoulders: "The son often asked: 'When will dad be released?'" Aleksey also had a hard time being separated from his family: "The most difficult thing is not to see my only child growing up."

The men were convicted under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization. Their case became part of a large-scale persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in modern Russia. The rest of the defendants in the case: Nikita Moiseyev, Yevgeniy Razumov, Vladimir Popov and Aleksey Dyadkin — are due to be released in May and June 2026.