Court in Kuban Sentences One of Jehovah's Witnesses, Sending Him to Colony for Believing in God

Four years and two months in prison for talking about the Bible - this decision was made by Judge Lev Bogdanov on February 25, 2025, in case of Aleksandr Davydenko, 32, resident of the village of Pavlovskaya.

Aleksandr faced persecution for his faith in 2020 after the same happened to his aunt, Lyudmila Shchekoldina. In April 2023, the local FSB directorate accused Davydenko of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and being involved in it. Later, the believer was imprisoned in a pre-trial detention center.

Davydenko's case has been under consideration in the Pavlovsky District Court since June 2024. The believer was accused of conversations about the Bible with a resident of the village, Valeriy Ilchenko, who recorded those conversations and handed them over to the FSB. Davydenko commented on these conversations as follows: "Ilchenko had questions, answering which, [we] reasoned on the basis of the Holy Scriptures. At the meetings, Valeriy felt calm, and we had a warm conversation." In court, the informant admitted that he had never heard any aggressive statements from Davydenko, and also did not feel forced to become Jehovah's Witness.

Ilchenko's recordings of conversations on spiritual topics became the basis for the conviction of three more believers - Lyudmila Shchekoldina, Vladimir Skachidub and Maksim Beltikov, all of whom also received real terms in a general regime colony.