Biography
Vasiliy Bondarev and his mother Irina became defendants in a criminal case for believing in Jehovah God in May 2023.
Vasiliy was born in October 1996 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. He has an elder brother and sister. Mother worked as a designer, graphic designer, was engaged in the manufacture of clothes, now retired. His father died in January 2020.
Vasiliy graduated from the medical college with a degree in General Medicine. He worked for four years in an ambulance, currently works as a district paramedic in a clinic.
The young man loves music since childhood, plays the piano in his free time and relaxes with friends in nature.
From birth, his mother instilled Christian values in Vasiliy. Studying the Bible on his own, the young man became convinced that it was consistent with science and history. As a result, in 2014 he embarked on the Christian path.
Relatives and friends of the Bondarevs wonder how these peaceful people can be accused of extremism.
Case History
In May 2023, civilians in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, as well as the village of Khurba and the village of Molodezhniy, were subjected to night searches because of their religion. The investigation initiated a criminal case against 10 believers: Vasiliy Bondarev and his mother Irina, Sergey Sachnev and his wife Ulita, Nikolay Kovadnev, Ivan Nikitin, Mikhail Dorofeev, Radion Shitov, Marina Voytko and Svetlana Zharkova. They were charged with involvement in the activities of a banned organization. In 2024, the prosecutor’s office returned the case to the investigator twice. In October of the same year, it went to court. All the defendants were included in the Rosfinmonitoring list, which made it difficult for them to pay bills and dispose of their property. In October 2025, the court sentenced Dorofeev, Kovadnev and Shitov to 6 years of suspended sentence, and the Bondarevs, the Sachnevs, Zharkova, Voytko and Nikitin to 2 years of suspended sentence. Among the convicts are 5 people over 60.
