Vergunov Aleksandr

Name: Vergunov Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
Date of Birth: November 16, 1997
Current status: who has served the main sentence
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Sentence: punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 2 years 6 months with restriction of liberty for a term of 6 months; The sentence of imprisonment shall be considered suspended with a probationary period of 3 years

Biography

April 20, 2020, a criminal case was initiated against 22-year-old Alexander Vergunov and five other residents of Khakassia, based on charges of extremism. The charges were related to the young man's religious beliefs.

Alexander was born in Abakan in 1997. At that time his mother had been practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses for over 6 years. Alexander has a younger brother.

In his school years, Alexander was fond of web design, hockey. In 2018 he graduated from college and became an information systems technician. In his leisure time he is engaged in web development and swimming.

From a young age Alexander's mother inculcated Christian values in him. Growing up, he saw for himself the validity of the Bible.

At the time of initiation of the criminal case Alexander was doing alternative civil service in the medical center for newborns. The draft board took into account Alexander's firm convictions, which did not allow him to take up arms. Against this background, the accusation of a believer in extremism looks absurd. The criminal prosecution came as a surprise to Alexander's family and friends.

Case History

Several criminal cases were singled out from the high-profile case of the Baranovskiys , a mother and son. One of them was opened by the Abakan Investigation Department on April 20, 2020 against Aleksandr Vergunov, Matryona Spiriadi and Irina Sidorova (she died three months later). At that time, Vergunov was doing alternative civilian service at a medical center, and Spiriadi was the guardian of his disabled grandson. After more than a year of investigation, the case was submitted to the Abakan City Court of the Republic of Khakassia. It was considered by Judge Yuriy Lotsky. On April 4, 2022, the court sentenced the believers to 2.5 years of probation. The appeal upheld the verdict.
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