Name: Bondareva Irina Vladimirovna
Date of Birth: September 6, 1961
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Current restrictions: obligation to appear
Sentence: imprisonment for a period of 2 years conditionally with a probation period of 2 years, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public organizations and associations for a period of 2 years

Biography

A series of difficulties in Irina Bondareva's life began with the death of her husband, then she became seriously ill with covid, and soon the police invaded her—in May 2023, the woman's house was searched. Irina and her son Vasily became defendants in a criminal case because of their peaceful religious beliefs.

Irina was born in 1961 in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. She has an elder sister and a younger brother. His father was a cabinetmaker, his mother an insulator. Both parents are no longer alive.

As a child, Irina was fond of drawing and sewing clothes. Starting from the 6th grade, she sewed her own school uniform. She also loved to read, was enrolled in three libraries. In winter, she skated and sledded.

After school, her father, who worked in a furniture shop, arranged for Irina to work as a veneer compositor. Later she moved to the city of Snezhny (Ukraine) and got a job at a factory as a graphic designer. Then, returning to her hometown, she continued to work as an artist in heating networks.

In the 1990s, Irina got married and gave birth to a son and a daughter. At work, she was laid off, so she decided to work at home, graduating from courses in machine knitting and embroidery. She also learned how to sew hats. At the end of the design courses, a personal exhibition was organized at the local art museum. Irina has been sewing hats as works of art for 10 years. Now, in her free time, Irina works at her summer cottage and still loves to read.

Irina was the first in the family to become interested in the Bible. She recalls: "I was always looking for God. I will never forget how one day I prayed fervently in the evening, and the next morning Jehovah's Witnesses came to me and left a book to help me learn about God. I read it in a day, checking it against my Bible. In my head, everything turned out like a picture from a puzzle. I realized that I had found the truth." In 1993, Irina decided to embark on the Christian path. Later, she was joined by her elder sister and mother.

In 1996, the Bondarevs had a son, Vasiliy. From childhood he was instilled with biblical moral standards, and at the age of 18 he also decided to become a Christian.

The criminal prosecution undermined Irina's health. "But most of all I worry about my son Vasiliy, because he may lose his job because of a criminal record," the believer complains.

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.
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