Ivan Nikitin
- Criminal Code
- Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Extremism casesCases against Jehovah's Witnesses
- Verdict
- Ban on activity, Suspended prison sentence
- Sentence
- 2 years
- Date of verdict
- 2025-09-30
- Region
- Khabarovsk Krai
- City
- Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Recognition by human rights organisations
- Recognised as persecuted 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
Resident of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. On 25 May 2023, he was searched as part of a case of involvement in the activities of an extremist organisation due to his involvement in the Jehovah's Witnesses community.
Representatives of this community are prosecuted under extremist articles solely on the basis of their religious activities: holding meetings and worship services and attracting new supporters.
On 1 October 2025, the court sentenced Nikitin to a two-year suspended sentence.
Others charged under Article 282.2 part 2, 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.