Updated: March 28, 2024
Name: Kapitonov Eduard Germanovich
Date of Birth: April 10, 1965
Current status: accused
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Current restrictions: Recognizance agreement

Biography

After a wave of searches in Yoshkar-Ola in the spring of 2022, Eduard Kapitonov, his son Ilya and 7 other men were accused of extremism because of their religion.

Eduard was born in 1965 in the village of Vasilenki (Mari El). As a child, he loved to play sports: football and volleyball.

After secondary education, Eduard learned to be a driver, and during the holidays he worked as an assistant combine operator. Following the army, he worked for 1.5 years at a state farm as an electrician, and then he left for the Far North in the city of Noyabrsk, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. There he worked for 13 years as a driver, after which he moved with his family to Yoshkar-Ola, where he continued to work as a driver and qualified as a woodworking technician. Eduard has more than 40 years work experience and since 2016 he has been a veteran of labor.

Eduard met his future wife Alevtina in Yoshkar-Ola when he was there on vacation from Noyabrsk. She works as a storekeeper in a factory. The couple has two children: the first, daughter Ksenia and son Ilya. Ksenia teaches IT at a children's center, and Ilya is studying law at university. They share the religious beliefs of their parents.

Eduard and Alevtina became interested in Bible teachings in 1996. Love for this book and for God motivated the couple to become Jehovah's Witnesses; first, Alevtina, and later, in 2014, Eduard.

In his spare time, Eduard enjoys gardening, horticulture, spending time outdoors with his family, having picnics and fishing. Also, the family often invites their friends over.

Due to the criminal prosecution, it became more difficult for Eduard to take care of his family. He was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists, his bank accounts were blocked and his property was seized. Due to the stress he experienced, his sleep suffered and he would often have high blood pressure.

Case History

In April 2022, the FSB initiated a criminal case against Jehovah’s Witnesses from Yoshkar-Ola. Searches were carried out at nine addresses; law enforcement officers used force against one of the believers, Yevgeny Plotnikov. He was arrested and subsequently placed in a detention center. In August 2022, Yevgeny was placed under house arrest, and in October he was placed under a ban on certain activities. From December of the same year, the FSB investigator began making other residents of the city defendants – Sergey Kulikov and his son Aleksey, Eduard Kapitonov and his son Ilya, Igor Alekseyev, Vladimir Usenko and Denis Petrov. The investigator regarded practicing their faith as extremist actions. The believers were made to sign a recognizance agreement.