Evgeni Cherepanov
- Criminal Code
- Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Extremism casesCases against Jehovah's Witnesses
- Region
- Chelyabinsk Oblast
- City
- NULL
Recognition by human rights organisations
- Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religionby Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
This is the assessment of the organisation named above, not ours. FACTUM reports it with attribution and does not make its own.
Case summary
On 17 January 2025, he was detained in Ozersk (Chelyabinsk region), where he had come from another city to help his mother get to the hospital for a check-up. The detention followed a search, allegedly with the use of force, as part of a case on the activities of an extremist organisation in connection with involvement with the Jehovah's Witnesses community. The next day Cherepanov was taken into custody. In April 2025, he was transferred to house arrest. Representatives of this community are prosecuted under extremist articles solely because of their religious activities - holding meetings and worship services and attracting new supporters.
Others charged under Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
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Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database
Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.
OVD-Info has been designated an «extremist» organisation in Russia — by decision of the Russian authorities, like other independent human rights and media projects.