Viktor Ursu
- Criminal Code
- Article 282.2 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Extremism casesCases against Jehovah's Witnesses
- Verdict
- Ban on activity, Imprisonment (general regime), Restriction of liberty
- Sentence
- 6 years
- Date of verdict
- 2025-09-08
- Region
- Occupied territory of Republic of Crimea
- City
- Dzhankoy
- Facility
- ФКУ СИЗО-1 УФСИН России по Республике Крым и г. Севастополь
- Address for letters
- 295006, Республика Крым, г. Симферополь, бул. Ленина, 4, ФКУ СИЗО-1 УФСИН России по Республике Крым и г. Севастополь, Урсу Виктор Александрович, 1965 г.р.
Case summary
Resident of Dzhankoy (Crimea). In July 2023, law enforcers came to search his home, during the search he was detained for allegedly refusing to show his passport. The believer spent 12 days in the temporary detention cell, after which on 7 August a criminal case was opened against him under the article on organising activities of an extremist organisation due to his involvement in the Jehovah's Witnesses community. On 9 August the court placed him under house arrest.
On 27 August 2024, Ursa was released from house arrest and signed a recognisance not to leave.
On 8 September 2025, the court sentenced him to six years in a general regime penal colony.
In 2018, law enforcement officers came with searches to Viktor Ursu's relative - an elderly believer Aleksandr Ursu, who was exiled to Siberia as a child and later rehabilitated.
Representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses community are prosecuted under extremist articles solely because of their religious activities - holding meetings and worship services and attracting new supporters.
Others charged under Article 282.2 part 1, 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.
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