Vladimir Kochnev
Vladimir Kochnev, born 1979, Orenburg Oblast. Charges: Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Participation in the activities of an extremist organization); “The case of five Jehovah's Witnesses in Orenburg”. Sentence (August 28, 2023): 2 years 8 months' deprivation of liberty suspended with a probationary period of 2 years 2 months, 10 months'… Status: at large. Recognition: Memorial Human Rights Centre — recognised as persecuted for exercising freedom of religion, January 8, 2020; Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners — recognised as persecuted for exercising freedom of religion, January 8, 2020.
In brief
Orenburg Oblast · Orenburg · Manual workers · Extremism cases, Cases against Jehovah's Witnesses
Sentence
2 years 6 months
2 years 8 months' deprivation of liberty suspended with a probationary period of 2 years 2 months, 10 months' restriction of liberty
Upheld January 24, 2024
Charges
- Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Participation in the activities of an extremist organization
Full wording of the charges
in the period from April 2017... participated in the activities of a structural subdivision of the Jehovah's Witnesses Local Religious Organisation by convening and holding meetings, organising the recruitment of new members, and communicating the content of religious literature texts to meeting participants
Latest event
March 23, 2026 — imprisonment ends
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as persecuted for exercising freedom of religion — Memorial Human Rights Centre, January 8, 2020
- Recognised as persecuted for exercising freedom of religion — Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, January 8, 2020
Timeline
· Imprisonment ends
· Persecution ends
· Removed from the Rosfinmonitoring list
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 2 years 6 months
· Recognised as persecuted for exercising freedom of religion
Memorial Human Rights Centre
· Preventive measure: house arrest
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №3 (SIZO-3) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation for the Orenburg Oblast
· Persecution begins
The case of five Jehovah's Witnesses in Orenburg
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
Criminal case
The case of five Jehovah's Witnesses in Orenburg
Other defendants in the case
- Nikolay Zhugin — At large, 2 years 6 months
- Vladislav Kolbanov — At large, 3 years 6 months
- Pavel Lekontsev — At large, 3 years
- Sergey Logunov — At large, 2 years 6 months
Thematic group: The case of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orenburg
Details and sources
Full summary
Detained on 16 May 2018 and arrested on 19 May on charges of organising activities of an extremist organisation. On 3 August, transferred under house arrest. On 12 October, the court replaced the preventive measure with a prohibition of certain actions.
On 14 January 2020, the court returned the case to the prosecutor's office, but it later came back to the court. On 28 August 2023, Kochnev was sentenced to two years and eight months suspended sentence.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.