Name: Zelenskiy Mikhail Grigoriyevich
Date of Birth: November 7, 1960
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, 53 day Under house arrest
Sentence: punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 2 years 6 months with restriction of liberty for a term of 8 months; The sentence of imprisonment shall be considered conditional with a probationary period of 3 years

Biography

Early in the morning in February 2019, FSB officers broke into the house of Mikhail Zelenskiy in Syzran, searched and took him to a temporary detention center. The believer was accused of extremism, and in October 2020, the court sentenced him to 2.5 years of probation only because of his faith in Jehovah God.

Mikhail was born in 1960 in the village of Bulaeshti (Moldova). He has two brothers and a sister. In his youth, he was fond of motorcycles, was a biker. He changed several professions, from a sailor to a driver. Since 1989 he has been married, has a son and grandchildren.

In the early 1990s, Mikhail was surprised to discover that the Bible does not support the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. This prompted him to study this book more closely. As a result, he and his wife became deeply religious people.

Everyone who knows Mikhail is outraged by the conviction that the court passed on this peaceful believer.

Case History

In 2019, the FSB in Ulyanovsk opened a case against the Mysins and their co-religionists Zelensky, Tabakov, Ganin and Khachikyan. After the searches, they were sent to jail and later under house arrest. In addition, savings and cars worth 1.5 million rubles were seized from believers. The charge under Article 282.2 was limited to participation in “activities that included religious chanting, preaching, study of the article and prayer.” Believers were seriously worried about the repressions, Sergey Mysin, who spent 2 months behind bars, ended up in intensive care. The state prosecutor recommended that all six be sent to a general regime colony for terms ranging from 3 to 7 years, as well as confiscate the seized property and money. The court of first instance sentenced them to suspended imprisonment for terms of up to 3.5 years. The court of appeal increased the suspended sentence for Sergey Mysin by six months - up to 4 years - and left the sentences unchanged for the rest of the believers.