Name: Shevchuk Mikhail Stanislavovich
Date of Birth: November 30, 1986
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 94 day in a pre-trial detention, 93 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: detention center
Sentence: imprisonment for a term of 6 years 6 months with serving in a general regime penal colony, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public and religious organizations for a term of 4 years, with restriction of freedom for a term of 1 year 1 month
Currently held in: Detention Center No.1 for Republic of Mordovia

Shevchuk Mikhail Stanislavovich, born 1986, Detention Center No.1 for Republic of Mordovia, Ul. Rabochaya, 147, Saransk, Republic of Mordovia, 430003

Letters of support can be sent by regular mail or through the ZT system.

Note: discussing topics related to criminal prosecution is not allowed in letters; languages other than Russian will not pass.

Biography

Mikhail Shevchuk is a fourth-generation Jehovah's Witness. He and his younger brother Aleksandr were persecuted for their Christian beliefs, just like their ancestors who were exiled to Siberia for their faith.

Mikhail was born in November 1986 in the village of Goryachevodskiy, Stavropol Territory. From early childhood, he was a sympathetic and hardworking child. In his teenage years, he helped his mother sew clothes for sale. In 2005, he graduated with honors from the College of the Pyatigorsk Institute of the North Caucasus Federal University with a degree in sewing technology.

In 2006, Mikhail moved to Saransk, where he worked in the furniture industry—first as an assembler, and later as a designer. He is creative in his work and likes to solve non-standard tasks. In his free time, he reads, chats with friends, relaxes in nature, plays chess and sometimes bakes cakes for family and friends.

In 2013, Mikhail married Yaroslavna. They have a strong marriage, and, according to the couple, they do everything together. Yaroslavna told what she felt when Mikhail was arrested: "We have a very strong, close bond. And when it is destroyed, it feels like the heart is being torn apart."

Mikhail's great-great-grandmother was the first in the Shevchuk family to start studying the Bible in 1936. Parents instilled moral values in their children, and at a young age they embarked on the Christian path. Love for people and the desire to remain a peaceful person prompted Mikhail to ask for the replacement of military service with an alternative civilian one, but he was exempted from conscription for health reasons.

For several years, the couple Shevchuk took care of Yaroslavna's seriously ill grandmother, and at the time of the search she lived with them. Yaroslavna talks about the sad consequences of what happened: "My grandmother experienced a lot of stress during the search. She was almost 91. She could not calm down in the last six months. My heart could not stand it."

In 2017, when the ruling to liquidate the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses was issued, Mikhail and his wife personally attended the court session at the Supreme Court and heard the statement that the decision would not affect in any way the right of believers to practice their religion. However, he was later prosecuted for not renouncing his Christian views.

Case History

In February 2023, a series of searches took place in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Saransk. A month earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs initiated a case for organizing the activity of an extremist organization. Several believers, including women, were taken for interrogation to the center for counteracting extremism. Some of them said that the investigators tried to force them to incriminate themselves and their friends. Mikhail Shevchuk, Ivan Neverov and Artem Velichko were placed in pretrial detention for 2.5 months, and later under house arrest, where they spent more than 3 months. In August 2023, their preventive measure was changed to a ban on certain actions. Later, the case of Artem Velichko was made into a separate proceeding. In January 2025, the case against Neverov and Shevchuk went to court, and 6 months later a guilty verdict was passed: 7 years imprisonment for Neverov and 6.5 years for Shevchuk.
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