Russian Court Convicts Jehovah’s Witness to 3 years in prison for faith

On January 19, 2022, the Severskiy City Court of the Tomsk Region in Russia convicted Aleksey Yer-shov to 3 years in prison, to begin immediately, for practicing his faith as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

On July 14, 2020 the FSB (Russia’s secret police) and Investigative Committee agents invaded and searched Aleksey’s home for seven hours. Officers confiscated bank cards, electronic devices, the Bible, passports, and Wi-Fi routers. Such actions prevented Yershov from seeking refugee asylum in places like the United States and Great Britain who have taken in refugees from Russia fleeing religious oppression since 2015.

On March 30, 2021, Yershov was formally charged based on video recordings made by a person who pretended to be interested in studying the Bible but used those recordings to hand over to the FSB (Russia’s secret police). Practicing their faith as one of Jehovahs’ Witnesses is illegal in Russia since the Bible Student group was officially banned in the country in 2017, following in the steps of Hitler and the Soviet Union.

On June 22, 2021, his criminal case was submitted to the Severskiy City Court of the Tomsk Region until the recent sentencing of 3 years in prison.