Two-Year Suspended Sentence for Believer in Kuban: Court Convicts Viktor Spirichev

The decision in the case of Viktor Spirichev was announced by Ruslan Teplukhin, a judge of the Vyselkovsky District Court, on December 9, 2025. On the same day, a sentence was also handed down to his fellow believer, Sergey Dvurechenskiy. Both were given identical suspended sentences for reading the Bible and discussing it among friends.

"For me, extremism is unacceptable. I believe that violence breeds even more injustice. The Bible teaches not to repay evil with evil, but to overcome evil with good," Viktor said at the final hearing of the trial, which lasted two years. "I feel grateful for the prayers of my brothers and sisters in faith, but most of all I am thankful to Jehovah God for helping me remain steadfast and not become embittered," Spirichev noted.

The criminal case against Viktor was initiated by the Investigative Committee in May 2023—a year after a search of his home. Due to the persecution, he faced financial restrictions imposed by Rosfinmonitoring and was under a travel ban until the verdict. "There are those I must care for: my wife Larisa (she has a Group II disability), my father-in-law (Vladimir Kolesnikov, a widower, who is also being tried for his faith), and my parents. I am an only child; my older brother died in 2018. These responsibilities are the source of my concerns," Viktor explained.

In the Krasnodar Territory, 38 Jehovah's Witnesses aged 28 to 79 have faced criminal prosecution for holding joint worship services, which, according to a ruling by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, is not a crime.