Alexander Stefanidin
- Criminal Code
- Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Extremism casesCases against Jehovah's Witnesses
- Region
- Udmurtia
- City
- Izhevsk
Recognition by human rights organisations
- Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religionby Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, 11 June 2024
This is the assessment of the organisation named above, not ours. FACTUM reports it with attribution and does not make its own.
Case summary
A resident of Izhevsk, a follower of Jehovah's Witnesses, was reported by the The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation as an "official assistant" of the community's elder. On 4 June 2024 he was searched, electronic devices and storage media were seized, and he himself was taken for interrogation. On 5 June, he was sent to the pre-trial detention centre on the case of organising the activities of an extremist organisation. On 29 October 2024, Stefanidin was transferred to house arrest. On 14 January 2025, the pretrial restriction was changed to a ban on certain actions.
Representatives of this community are prosecuted under extremist articles exclusively in connection with religious activities: organising meetings and worship services, attracting new supporters.
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.