Nikolai Romaniuk
Nikolai Romaniuk, born 1962, Moscow Oblast. Charges: Article 280.4 part 2 items b, v, Russian Criminal Code; “Nikolai Romaniuk's case on calls for activities against national security”. Sentence (September 3, 2025): 4 years' imprisonment in a general regime penal colony, 3 years' ban on administering Internet sites. Status: imprisoned. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, July 1, 2025.
In brief
Moscow Oblast · Religious figures · Anti-war cases
Sentence
4 years
imprisonment in a general regime penal colony, 3 years' ban on administering Internet sites
Upheld November 25, 2025
Charges
Full wording of the charges
The reason for opening the case was the sermon Romaniuk delivered on 25 September 2022, in which he condemned people participating in the war in Ukraine. “I would put it this way: when you are offered a dose, when you are offered a bottle of alcohol, or when you are given a draft notice sending you to fight — it is the same sin, the same drug, the same Satan. And a believer… Show me at least a hint in the Old Testament that we could, in any way, take part in this. And it doesn’t matter which king calls for it — the Ukrainian king, the American king, or our king. I would like this to serve as at least some kind of vaccination. This is not our war,” Romaniuk said. He added: “Our doctrine stated that we are pacifists and cannot take part in this <…> It is our right to profess this based on the Holy Scriptures. We do not bless those who go there, those who are taken there by force — we do not bless them, but we pray that they may be delivered from there. There are various lawful ways to do this.”
Latest event
November 25, 2025 — appeal
The court upheld the verdict.
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, July 1, 2025
Timeline
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 4 years
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №11 (SIZO-11) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation for the Moscow Oblast
· Persecution begins
Nikolai Romaniuk's case on calls for activities against national security
· Preventive measure: placement in a temporary detention facility
Criminal case
Nikolai Romaniuk's case on calls for activities against national security
Thematic group: Anti-war case
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Details and sources
Full summary
The senior presbyter of the Holy Trinity Church of Evangelical Christians in the Moscow Region. On 18 October 2024, searches were conducted at his home, at the homes of two other families of believers, and at two houses of prayer in the Moscow Region—one in Balashikha and one in Volokolamsk, according to church minister Roman Zhukov. In some cases, special-forces officers broke down doors. During the searches, computers, laptops, flash drives, disks, and certain documents were seized. One believer had all his bank cards, his mother’s pension card, and their foreign passports taken. Security forces also came to the home of Ilia and Sergei Romanyuk (Zhukov does not specify their relation to the pastor). Although no search was conducted there, both men were forced face-down at gunpoint and kept in that position for 12 hours, Zhukov claims. For an hour and a half of that time, the men were lying outside on the ground in light clothing and barefoot.
Pastor Nikolai Romaniuk was detained that same evening. According to Zhukov, he was urged to record a video message, possibly a confession, but he refused. On 20 October, a court ordered him into custody in a case concerning calls for activities “directed against the security of the Russian Federation,” based on an anti-war sermon he delivered on 25 September 2022. The hearing on the pretrial detention order was held behind closed doors.
On 3 September 2025, Romaniuk was sentenced to four years in a general-regime penal colony.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia