Court in Chelyabinsk Gave Olga Zhelavskaya, 61, a 2-Year Suspended Sentence for Reading the Bible

On April 14, 2023, the judge of the Metallurgicheskiy District Court of Chelyabinsk, Aleksandr Shatsky, gave Olga Zhelavskaya a 2-year suspended sentence for participating in “joint meetings for worship... singing and praying.” The verdict has not entered into force and can be appealed. The believer insists on her complete innocence.

Olga Zhelavskaya faced persecution for her faith in March 2019, when her apartment was searched as part of a case against Vladimir Suvorov. In August 2021, Alexander Chepenko, investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, who had initiated 10 cases against Jehovah's Witnesses in the region, also initiated a criminal case against Zhelavskaya. The accusation was based on the testimony of an infiltrated agent, Ruzaeva, who, on the instructions of the Center for Combating Extremism, pretended to be interested in the Bible and made audio and video recordings of religious meetings.

The investigation lasted a little over a year. It negatively affected Olga’s health and her life in general—during the criminal prosecution, the believer suffered a stroke, she was fired from her job and her bank cards were blocked. According to Zhelavskaya, she was greatly supported by fellow believers: “They immediately came to my aid, brought food and money, and strengthened me.”

In August 2022, the case went to court. In her final statement, the believer pointed out that the accusation against her was unproven and unjustified: “The interrogation of both witnesses showed that neither during a friendly meeting with fellow believers, nor at any other time, did I make calls to overthrow the political system, break up families or any other extremist statements. No quotes, no facts, no records, no victims”.

To date, 12 Jehovah's Witnesses have been prosecuted in the Chelyabinsk Region, 8 of them have been given suspended sentences and fined for their faith in God.

In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights concluded that regarding the activity of Jehovah's Witnesses, Russia has shown “indications of a policy of intolerance... designed to cause Jehovah’s Witnesses to abandon their faith and prevent others from joining it” (§ 254).