CrimeaSOS: 6 years for faith — a typical sentence for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Crimea 

The occupation courts of Crimea most often impose 6 years of imprisonment for involvement in the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” religious organization, which is recognized as extremist in the russian federation. CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko noted such a trend. 

“This is the form of punishment most often imposed on Jehovah’s Witnesses by occupation courts – 12 out of 15 convicted believers got it”, —Yevhenii Yaroshenko said.  

In particular, on January 14, 2025, by a decision of the occupation Haharin District Court of the city of Sevastopol, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, Viktor Kudinov and Serhii Zhyhalov, were found guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization and sentenced to 6 years in prison.  

The analyst also noted that the case of Kudinov and Zhyhalov was accompanied by gross violations of the right to a fair trial. The accusation was based on the testimony of biased witnesses, one of whom was classified, and the other one was not personally known to one of the accused. The religious examination was conducted by a person of questionable competence, and the announcement of the last word took place despite the defendant’s high temperature, which, according to the analyst, can amount to cruel and inhuman treatment. 

In 2017, the Supreme Court of the russian federation recognized the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” religious organization as extremist. Since then, 32 persons have been persecuted in the occupied Crimea for their involvement in this organization, 15 of whom have already been convicted. Yevhenii Yaroshenko noted that the largest number of criminal cases against representatives of Jehovah’s Witnesses were initiated in 2022. We are talking about 11 believers. 

We would like to remind you that during 2024, at least 15 searches were carried out in the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses on the occupied peninsula.