"Whatever the Verdict, I Will Remain a Peaceful Believer". Yelena Kopatskaya from Birobidzhan Given a 2-Year Suspended Sentence

On November 10, 2026, Judge Svetlana Anzhiyevskaya of the Leninskiy District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region gave a 2-year suspended sentence to Yelena Kopatskaya, a 44-year-old cleaner, finding her guilty of extremism.

In her final statement, Yelena said: "When we hear the word 'extremism,' our imagination usually pictures explosions, fires, shootings, and people suffering. In my case there is no injured party. I have not harmed anyone, especially the state. I am a believer and I am against extremism in all its forms."

Kopatskaya was born in Birobidzhan. She trained as a seamstress-hairdresser, but did not work in her profession. Together with her husband, Aleksey, they raised three children: two sons and a daughter, who is now 17.

In the winter of 2024, FSB officers conducted a search of the believer's home in Amurzhet and seized electronic devices, notebooks, and Bibles. "When the first search ended, it felt like the ground had disappeared from under our feet, and everything we had was suddenly no longer important. Now we feel peace and calm, knowing that Jehovah God will always support us," Yelena recalls.

In October 2025, a criminal case was initiated against the believer for participating in the activity of an extremist organization; according to the investigation, this consisted of jointly discussing the Bible, singing songs, and praying. Yelena was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists, and her bank accounts were blocked.

The criminal case was based on video recordings of meetings for worship. "The recordings show that together with other believers I worshipped God in accordance with the teachings of my religion," Yelena noted. In her view, the conclusions of the investigators and experts that extremist materials were used at meetings for worship are not supported by facts. The expert conclusions do not cite specific pages of the materials under examination, nor the actual quotations.

The Jewish Autonomous Region has become one of the regions with the largest number of criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses — 34. Persecution has affected not only Birobidzhan but also remote settlements of the region.