Sergey Kosyanenko
- Criminal Code
- Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal CodeArticle 282.3 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Extremism casesCases against Jehovah's Witnesses
- Verdict
- Ban on activity, Imprisonment (general regime), Restriction of liberty
- Sentence
- 7 years
- Date of verdict
- 2023-04-17
- Region
- Astrakhan Oblast
- City
- Akhtubinsk
- Facility
- ФКУ «ИК № 6 УФСИН по Московской области»
- Address for letters
- 140405 Московская область, г. Коломна, мкр. Колычево, Колычевский проезд д. 6, ФКУ «ИК № 6 УФСИН по Московской области», Косьяненко Сергей Иванович, 1961 г.р.
Recognition by human rights organisations
- Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religionby Memorial Human Rights Centre, 23 November 2021
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 9 November 2021, he was detained following a search. The next day a court placed him in custody in a case of organising activities of an extremist organisation in connection with his involvement in the Jehovah's Witnesses community. Members of this group are prosecuted under extremism articles solely for religious activities: meetings, joint worship services, attracting new followers. In August 2022, Kosyanenko was also charged with financing extremist activity. On 17 April 2023 he was sentenced to seven years in a general-regime penal colony.
Others charged under Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
What we write about political persecution
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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.