Andriy Kozhushko
Andriy Kozhushko, born 1975, Sverdlovsk Oblast. Charges: Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code (Organization of the activities of an extremist organization); “The case of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Sverdlovsk region”. Sentence (November 25, 2024): 6 years' suspended imprisonment. Status: at large. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as persecuted for exercising freedom of religion.
In brief
Sverdlovsk Oblast · NULL · Unemployed · Extremism cases, Cases against Jehovah's Witnesses
Sentence
6 years
suspended imprisonment
Upheld March 24, 2025
Charges
- Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code — Organization of the activities of an extremist organization
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, "through videoconferences..... carried out religious services, public study and discussion of literature, video recordings and illustrations"
Latest event
March 24, 2025 — appeal
The court upheld the verdict.
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as persecuted for exercising freedom of religion — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
Timeline
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· Imprisonment begins
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 6 years
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Persecution begins
The case of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Sverdlovsk region
Criminal case
The case of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Sverdlovsk region
Other defendants in the case
- Andrei Bannykh — At large, 6 years
- Pavel Loschinin — At large, 6 years
Details and sources
Full summary
Disabled person of the II group. He was born in November 1975 in the village of Georgievka (Kazakhstan). In 1985 he moved with his mother to the Russian settlement of Tayozhny (Sverdlovsk region). As a child, he was fond of skiing, played chess, and in summer liked to go fishing and to the forest for mushrooms. After school he received a specialisation as a car mechanic-driver. He did not do military service because of his disability. In April 2023, Kozhushko was searched, interrogated and then brought as a defendant in a case of participation in the activities of an extremist organisation because of his involvement in the Jehovah's Witnesses community. Representatives of this community are prosecuted under extremist articles solely because of their religious activities - holding meetings, joint worship services, attracting new supporters. On 25 November 2024, Kozhushko was sentenced to six years' suspended sentence.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.