Four Years in a Penal Colony for Hospitality — Court in Chelyabinsk Sentences 58-Year-Old Local Believer

On September 28, 2026, the Sovetskiy District Court of Chelyabinsk found Yelena Mironova, one of Jehovah's Witnesses, guilty of extremism for discussing the Bible in her own home. After Judge Valeriy Myagotin announced the verdict, the believer was taken into custody.

Yelena is a widow who worked for many years as an accountant and storekeeper at factories in Chelyabinsk. "I am an ordinary person: I love life, I value my freedom and the right to choose... I am proud that I have earned every ruble honestly, with my own hands," she said in her final statement.

"For 4 years I have lived with constant stress and anxiety. All because of an unjust charge of extremism," Yelena commented. Back in 2022, a search of her home was conducted as part of the case against Yevgeniy Bushev. Two and a half years later, she herself became the subject of a case. She was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list, making even routine daily matters difficult, such as paying utility bills and receiving social benefits.

The believer was convicted under two articles of the Criminal Code — participating in the activity of an extremist organization and financing the activity of an extremist organization. The investigation treated Yelena's hospitality toward guests in her own apartment and conversations about the Bible with friends as criminal acts. "It is natural for each of us to invite loved ones into our home, offer them refreshments, and discuss things that are important and interesting. I was simply exercising that right," the believer explained to the court. "Why is something that is normal for everyone being interpreted differently in my case?"

Previously in the Chelyabinsk Region, courts handed down guilty verdicts against 16 Jehovah's Witnesses, 4 of whom were given actual terms in penal colonies.