Sergey Filatov, a 53-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Crimea, was released from penal colony No. 10 in Rostov-on-Don on January 21, 2026. The father of four fully served his sentence — he had been in custody since March 2020.
During his years of imprisonment, Sergey was held in a pretrial detention center as well as in two penal colonies and was able to adapt to the difficult conditions. "The hardest part was that so many inmates smoke. On one ocassion I walked into the cell and there was a thick, bluish cloud of smoke. I breathed fresh air through a little opening in the window," said Sergey Filatov. "I had to explain my position and be firm about it. But I tried to apply what the Bible teaches — to treat people the way I would want to be treated. In the end, I got along very well with veryone."
"He's very communicative, sociable, approachable, and down-to-earth," explained Natalya, Sergey's wife. "These qualities helped him while in prison to find common ground with both the administration and inmates. An inmate told Sergey: 'Where you are, things are always good.'"
His supervisors valued the believer for his responsible attitude and his strong work ethic. In the penal colony, Sergey qualified as a carpenter and then trained as a welder. He worked in the decorative wood-processing, sewing, and metal workshop; he did cold forging, made garden benches and trash cans, as well as structures for skate parks. In his second year of imprisonment, he was offered the position of head of the colony's entire production operation, which includes the sewing and steel-casting workshops, the vehicle service station, and the wallpaper and aerated-concrete manufacturing units. "We don't have a better candidate than you," they told him. "You're not driven by vanity or greed; we can rely on you." In his final year, Sergey was the foreman of metal production. During his time there, he received 13 awards.
In 2023, after having served more than a third of his term, Filatov filed a motion to have his imprisonment replaced with corrective labor. The court denied his request, despite a positive character reference provided by the administration of the penal colony. He also filed a motion for parole but was again denied, with the decision stating that he "did not admit guilt to committing a crime." During the last part of his imprisonment the believer was held under less strict detention conditions.
According to those close to him, Sergey worried about his family, especially his children, because he could not take full part in their upbringing for several years. The first years of his imprisonment coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to restrictions caused by it, the believer was unable to see his loved ones for almost 2 years. While Filatov was imprisoned, his father passed away.
Sergey used any opportunity to give attention to his family, despite his constrained circumstances. "Sergey really encouraged and supported me with his heartfelt letters and the poems he dedicated to me... And he would always give me fresh or dried roses or other flowers at extended visits. It was so sweet and touching," the believer's wife said.
"Prison is not the worst place. Jehovah gives strength and support everywhere. Even more so,here in the colony," Sergey said.
Altogether, 35 Jehovah's Witnesses in Crimea have already faced criminal prosecution. The overwhelming majority of those convicted — 14 people (82%) — received 6 years or more in penal colonies.
