Name: Yermilova Valentina Valeriyevna
Date of Birth: November 15, 1970
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Current restrictions: recognizance agreement
Sentence: punishment in the form of 2 years 6 months of imprisonment, imprisonment shall be replaced by forced labor for a term of 2 years 6 months with deduction of 10% from wages to the state, with restriction of liberty for a period of 6 months

Biography

In 2019, law enforcement officers opened a criminal case against Sergey Yermilov, a military pensioner of the FSB. In the summer of 2021, his wife, 50-year-old Valentina, was also accused of extremism only because of her faith in Jehovah God.

Valentina was born in November 1970 in the city of Shimanovsk (Amur Region). As a child, she went in for sports — played basketball. She has a younger sister, Olga.

After school, Valentina graduated from a vocational school. She worked as a laboratory assistant, court clerk, telephone operator.

In 2009, following her sister, Valentina and her mother embarked on the Christian path. Valentina was prompted to make this decision by studying the Bible, namely, that what is written in it gives hope for a wonderful future. She was also touched by God's promise to resurrect those who have died. Unfortunately, during the investigation against Valentina, her mother fell ill with COVID-19 and died from complications.

In 1995, Valentina married Sergey. They have an adult son who already has his own family. The spouses have a lot in common: Sergey not only shares Valentina's religious beliefs, but, like her, loves sports. Both spouses are fond of cooking. In their free time, the spouses like to travel and relax in nature.

Due to the criminal prosecution, Valentina's health deteriorated and she is forced to take medications. In addition, her husband is included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring, so his bank cards are blocked, which greatly complicates the life of the family. “Before the initiation of the criminal case, we could have gone somewhere together, but now it’s impossible,” says Valentina with regret.

Case History

In July 2021, Kristina Golik, Valentina Yermilova, Ekaterina Olshevskaya and Mariya Portnyagina (married name Myasnikova) became defendants in a criminal case for their faith in Jehovah God. Peaceful women from Blagoveshchensk were charged with participating in the activity of an extremist organization. A month earlier, Kristina Golik’s husband, Dmitry, had been sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony for talking about God. The husbands of two others, Anton Olshevskiy and Sergey Yermilov, were under investigation at the time. The case against the women was initiated by Obukhov, investigator of the Investigative Department of the FSB for the Amur Region. He claimed that they committed illegal acts, “wishing for the occurrence of socially dangerous consequences,” that is what he called the participation of the believers in discussions of Bible topics. All four were placed under recognizance agreements. In May 2023, the case went to court. In December 2024, the court sentenced the women to forced labor for terms ranging from 2 years and 2 months to 2.5 years.
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