Samara Regional Court upholds sentence against Jehovah’s Witnesses organizer from Togliatti, Russia

A Russian court in Samara has left in place a six-year prison sentence for a 52-year-old man from Togliatti whom prosecutors described as a senior figure in Jehovah’s Witnesses. The group is banned in Russia, and the Samara regional court’s account states that it was declared extremist and banned there in 2017.

According to the investigation, the man supported the group’s activities between 2017 and 2024. The prosecution contended that he acted deliberately and covertly, and that through conspiratorial measures he was able to organize the group’s activities in Petrozavodsk, Shadrinsk and other cities.

A report from the Samara Regional Court said that he “regularly held meetings (personally and remotely), coordinated preaching activities, appointed elders, attracted new members, and conducted correspondence through closed Internet resources.” The same report said his activities were interrupted by law enforcement officials in the Republic of Karelia.

The Autonomous District Court of Togliatti found the man guilty of organizing the activities of a religious association that a court had dissolved as extremist. In late July 2026 he was sentenced to six years in a general-security colony. The court also barred him for four years from running or assisting religious organizations, and after he leaves the colony his freedom will be restricted for another year.

The convicted man and his lawyer filed appeals against the first-instance verdict, and the Samara Regional Court heard them. Reviewing the case file, the appellate panel weighed the record before deciding the matter, a step that reflects the principle of hearing the full account before judgment (Proverbs 18:17). The court concluded that there was no basis for amending the sentence on its merits or its length, according to the regional court.

The case sits within a longer history of legal action against the group in Samara province. In 2013 the regional prosecutor issued a warning to the religious organization, and in 2014 local residents complained to a court about the distribution of printed publications. Following those complaints, the Centre for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Samara region inspected premises used by the group and found extremist literature. The Soviet District Court of Samara held local members administratively responsible, ordered a fine of 50,000 roubles and ordered printed materials destroyed. The regional court then filed a suit to have the organization recognized as extremist and liquidated, and the court accepted the complainants’ arguments.

According to the same source, supporters of the group remained in the region after the ban. One representative of the Togliatti group was held to account and fined 1,000 roubles, and a few years later another member was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Russian)