Name: Abdulgalimov Marat Nazimovich
Date of Birth: November 8, 1991
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Time spent in prison: 361 day in a pre-trial detention, 882 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: suspended sentence
Sentence: punishment in the form of 6 years 6 months of imprisonment, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of religious public organizations, for a period of 5 years, with restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year, the sentence of imprisonment shall be considered suspended with a probationary period of 4 years

Biography

After a raid on the homes of believers in Dagestan on June 1, 2019, law enforcement officers detained four civilians — one woman and three men. Three days later, the Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala sent all four to a pre-trial detention center. Among them is Marat Abdulgalimov. What is known about him?

Marat was born in 1991 in Makhachkala (Dagestan). He grew up in a large family. He has two younger brothers and a sister. His father is a pensioner with a disability, his mother works as a sister-hostess in a local maternity hospital. Since childhood, Marat loved to drive the ball in the yard with the neighbor boys. After school, he received the specialty of an electric welder, currently works in a shoe shop as a shoe knocker. There have always been warm and peaceful relations with colleagues at work. The employer appreciates Marat very much for his honesty and hard work.

In his free time, as before, he likes to play football with friends, go out into nature, fry kebabs, fish.

From a young age, Marat's father tried to instill in his son respect for the Bible. Marat enjoyed reading and studying the Holy Scriptures. Reflecting on what he read strengthened his faith in God and confidence in this book. He was always drawn to people who live according to the commandments of Christ and love their neighbors.

The news of his son's arrest brought much pain and suffering to his mother. Marat's father is also worried about his son, but tries his best to maintain a positive attitude and encourage all family members who miss him very much and are looking forward to his release. They cannot believe that Marat, whom everyone knows as a decent and peace-loving man, ended up in prison.

Case History

In the summer of 2019, the homes of local Jehovah’s Witnesses were searched in four cities of Dagestan. Two religious brochures on the list of extremist materials were planted in one of the homes. Prior to this, the FSB initiated a criminal case against Arsen Abdullaev, Anton Dergalev, Marat Abdulgalimov and Mariya Karpova, accusing them of organizing the activities of an extremist organization. Additionally, the three men were charged with financing a banned organization, while the woman was charged with involving others in it. All four were put on the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists and terrorists. The believers spent 362 days in pre-trial detention, after which they were placed under house arrest. In 2020, the cassation court declared that their detention in a pre-trial detention center for 8 out of 12 months was unlawful. In March 2021, the consideration of the case on the merits began. In November 2022, the court gave Abdullayev, Abdulgalimov and Dergalev 6.5 year suspended sentences and gave Karpova a 6 year suspended sentence.