Name: Kulikov Aleksey Sergeyevich
Date of Birth: June 18, 1979
Current status: defendant
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Current restrictions: recognizance agreement

Biography

On the eve of the long-awaited vacation, security forces broke into Aleksey Kulikov, the father of five children, with a search. The plans of the family suddenly collapsed, a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety appeared. A peaceful believer faced criminal prosecution for his love of the Bible.

Aleksey was born in June 1979 in the city of Rostov-on-Don. His father worked most of his life as an electrician, and his mother as a boiler room operator. Aleksey has a younger brother and sister.

As a child, Aleksey took over his father's passion for photography and enrolled in a photo club. In high school, he became interested in woodworking and after school he entered a vocational school, where he acquired the profession of a manufacturer of artistic wood products.

Thanks to the acquired knowledge about the structure of the tree, the young man successfully worked at a private woodworking enterprise. In 2011, it closed, Aleksey got a job as an electrician and since then he has been servicing power lines.

In the early 1990s, Kulikov's parents met Jehovah's Witnesses and began to study the Bible. Aleksey recalls: “Seeing how many interesting and useful things my parents tell me, I gradually began to notice the love of our Creator in his promises and creations that surround us. Later, this love grew along with the knowledge that I began to receive more and more consciously”. As a result, Aleksey embarked on the Christian path.

Aleksey has three children from his first marriage, who remained under his care. The eldest son Dmitriy defended the right to alternative civilian service and is doing it in the hospital's catering unit. He is fond of drawing, independently studies the structure of computers, telephones and repairs them.

In 2014, Aleksey got married again. His wife Lidiya shares his outlook on life. She is fond of weaving paper vines. Together, the Kulikovs like to collect pictures from mosaics. In 2019 and 2022, two more sons were born to the Kulikovs.

After the search in mid-April 2022, Aleksey began to worry about hypertension and worries about the future. He said: “My wife and I still can’t move away from the invasion of our home. Despite all the courtesy of the authorities, the sediment remained due to such an attitude towards us.”

Case History

In April 2022, the FSB initiated a criminal case against Jehovah’s Witnesses from Yoshkar-Ola. Searches were carried out at nine addresses; law enforcement officers used force against one of the believers, Yevgeny Plotnikov. He was arrested and subsequently placed in a detention center. In August 2022, Yevgeny was placed under house arrest, and in October he was placed under a ban on certain activities. From December of the same year, the FSB investigator began making other residents of the city defendants – Sergey Kulikov and his son Aleksey, Eduard Kapitonov and his son Ilya, Igor Alekseyev, Vladimir Usenko and Denis Petrov. The investigator regarded practicing their faith as extremist actions. The believers were made to sign a recognizance agreement. The case went to court in October 2024.
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