Konshin Oleg

Name: Konshin Oleg Vladimirovich
Date of Birth: May 10, 1971
Current status: who has served the main sentence
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Time spent in prison: 1 day in a temporary detention facility
Sentence: punishment in the form of a fine in the amount of 450,000 rubles, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to participation in the work of public religious organizations for a period of 2 years and 11 months

Biography

On July 16 and 17, mass searches were carried out in the homes of believers in several towns in the Nizhny Novgorod region. In total, 35 searches were conducted, and at least 11 people are involved in the criminal case. One of them is Oleg Konshin. Who is he?

Oleg was born in the city of Luga, Leningrad Region, in 1971; his sister was born not long after. The family then moved north to the city of Zapolyarny, Murmansk Region, where Oleg spent his childhood and youth. After graduating, he went to a technical school to study automotive repair. In 1991 Oleg received a diploma and in the same year married Irina, whom he had met in drama class. Later, the couple decided to move south and settled in Nizhny Novgorod.

One day, Oleg's mother shared with her daughter and son-in-law what she had learned from the Bible, and it interested them. When Oleg and Irina became parents of two sons, they tried to raise them from birth in accordance with biblical commandments. Today they have a warm close-knit family that loves to spend time together, ride bicycles, play football, travel, and go to the theater.

Oleg works at a car repair shop in Nizhny Novgorod. He loves his profession, but he especially enjoys helping his friends with car repairs. Oleg's employer was very considerate; she allowed him to come to work later than usual because, due to his criminal prosecution, he cannot leave his home before 9 a.m. She was very surprised to learn that her employee was accused of extremism.

When Oleg's relatives heard about the criminal prosecution, they could not believe that this peaceful family man would do something unlawful. They sincerely hope that this unjust situation will be resolved.

Case History

In July 2019, mass searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nizhny Novgorod. After that, several believers became defendants in criminal cases under an article for extremism. One of them was filed against Sergey Konshin, Sergey Malyanov and his daughter, Svetlana. The believers spent 24 hours in a temporary holding facility. Even before these events, the officers were listening in on Malyanov’s telephone conversations. Later, another defendant appeared in the case - Roman Zhivolupov. The believers were added to the Rosfinmonitoring list and they had to sign a recognizance agreement. In February 2022, the case went to court. The charges are based on a video recording of an event. The investigation considered the party a continuation of the activity of a liquidated religious organization. In April 2023, these Nizhny Novgorod residents were sentenced to fines ranging from 450,000 to 700,000 rubles. Later, the court of appeal upheld the guilty verdict, toughening the additional part of the punishment – not to hold any leading positions in religious and public organizations for 2 years and 11 months.
Timeline
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