Court in Petrozavodsk, Russia, fines Jehovah’s Witness Aleksey Timofeyev 500,000 rubles

On August 31, 2026, the Petrozavodsk City Court issued a verdict against Aleksey Timofeyev, 32, and imposed a fine of 500,000 rubles. He was found guilty of organizing the activity of an extremist organization. According to the report, the charge was based essentially on his reading the Bible and discussing it with acquaintances.

In his final statement, Timofeyev said: “Analyzing the actions I was charged with during this trial, I keep reaching the same conclusion that I have nothing to reproach myself for. I did not kill anyone, did not injure anyone, did not steal anything, did not deceive anyone, and did not cause any kind of harm to people or the state.”

The report says that during the hearings it became clear that statements attributed to Timofeyev were never made by him. The defense also repeatedly pointed to discrepancies between the case materials and records of operational-investigative measures. A witness, identified as Semakov, played a key role in the case. The defense argued that his testimony contradicted audio and video recordings, which, according to the defense, contained no evidence that Timofeyev invited Semakov to join any organization or spoke about the “correct” Bible of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The source states that Semakov acted on instructions from the FSB. These are the defense’s claims as reported by the source. (Exodus 23:1) lists the principle of not spreading a false report, which bears on the question of testimony that the defense said conflicted with the recordings.

Timofeyev spent 1.5 months in a pretrial detention center. “When I was arrested,” he explained, “I felt as if I had been disconnected from my usual life and everyday activities, as though I used to be a part of a large mechanism, and now I had been removed from the system. It took time to recover, to realize what had happened, and to understand what to do next.”

He said it was especially difficult to be held in a cell where people smoked constantly. Despite repeated requests to be transferred to a non-smoking cell, the head of the facility replied that this was not possible because 99% of the detainees smoke. Timofeyev said he was supported by letters from friends and from his wife, Marina. “She sent photographs; I looked at them every day. This helped me feel that we were close and imagine how we would be together again,” he said.

According to the report, the criminal case was initiated in March 2024. A week later, searches were conducted at seven addresses in Petrozavodsk, including Timofeyev’s home. The case went to court in May 2025. The case record lists the charge as Article 282.2(1) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and the decision to initiate the case cited his alleged continued support of the “main ideas of the said religious organization.” The source says the verdict has entered into force.

The report notes that in Karelia, five more Jehovah’s Witnesses received large fines for their religious beliefs.

Source: Read the original report