Aleksey Budenchuk

Name: Budenchuk Aleksey Vladimirovich

Date of Birth: July 27, 1982

Current status: who has served the main sentence

Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)

Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 455 day in a pre-trial detention, 564 day in prison

Sentence: punishment in the form of 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment to be served in a penal colony of general regime; with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to management and participation in the work of public organizations for a period of 5 years, with restriction of freedom for a period of 1 year

Biography

Aleksey Budenchuk was born in 1982 in the village of Shirokoe (Saratov region). He has a younger brother. Their mother was left without a husband early and became disabled. To support the family financially, Aleksey left his studies at the medical university and began working, subsequently changing a number of professions.

Aleksey is a versatile person. He is interested in medicine, fishing, gardening, landscaping, car and apartment repairs. Spiritual searches while studying at the medical university led Aleksey to the understanding that man and the Universe have a Creator, and the Bible is the word of God. In 2003, Aleksey married Tatyana, who shares her husband's Christian beliefs and his hobbies for medicine and gardening. The spouses have a household.

The couple are raising two schoolchildren. Son Yegor successfully participated in the All-Russian Olympiads, draws and writes poetry, and Sofia is fond of singing. The Budenchuk family has a positive response from the administration of the municipality where she lives. The spouses "have proven themselves on the positive side: as conscientious, conflict-free, respectful people ... The psychological situation in the family is stable," the description says. It is said separately about Tatyana that she is "tactful, patient, knows how to find compromise solutions and teaches her children this." The whole family is positively characterized by the leadership of the school where the children study.

What happened to the believer shocked Aleksey’s relatives, non-religious people. Considering the reasons for the criminal prosecution of this peace-loving person to be unfounded, they try to help in any way they can.

In 2019, a judge of the Leninsky District Court of Saratov ruled to sentence Aleksey Budenchuk to 3 years and 6 months in prison because of his faith in God. The Court of Appeal upheld this decision. Aleksey’s two children lost their father for a long time, and his wife, with whom they had been married for 17 years, lost support. On July 6, 2021, the believer was released, having completely served his term.

Case History

In September 2019, Judge Dmitry Larin immediately sent 6 Saratov residents to prison for a term of 2 to 3.5 years just for reading the Bible, singing songs and praying. Since 2017, security forces have been conducting covert surveillance of believers. In the summer of 2018, their homes were searched with banned literature planted. While the investigation was underway, they had to go to a pre-trial detention center, under house arrest and under recognizance not to leave. A year later, despite the absence of victims in the case, the believers were found guilty. Upon arrival at the Orenburg colony, 5 out of 6 convicted believers were beaten by the staff of the institution. Mahammadiev was hospitalized, and the rest were placed in a punishment cell for a while. Saratov prisoners of conscience have mastered various professions in prison. In May 2020, Mahammadiev and Bazhenov were stripped of their Russian citizenship and, after their release, deported from Russia. All 6 believers have already served their sentences. In September 2022, the cassation court dismissed the complaint, and the verdict and the appellate ruling were unchanged.

Timeline