Valentina Vladimirova
Valentina Vladimirova, born 1956, Smolensk Oblast. Charges: Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Participation in the activities of an extremist organization); “Second case of Jehovah's Witnesses in Smolensk region”. Sentenced on September 25, 2022. Status: at large. Recognition: Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners — recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion, January 8, 2020; Memorial Human Rights Centre — recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion, September 22, 2019.
In brief
Smolensk Oblast · Smolensk · Extremism cases, Cases against Jehovah's Witnesses
Sentence
2 years
Suspended prison sentence, Restriction of liberty
Upheld February 14, 2024
Charges
- Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Participation in the activities of an extremist organization
Full wording of the charges
participated in the activities of an extremist organisation
Latest event
February 28, 2025 — imprisonment ends
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion — Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, January 8, 2020
- Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion — Memorial Human Rights Centre, September 22, 2019
Timeline
· Imprisonment ends
· Removed from the Rosfinmonitoring list
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict
· First-instance verdict
upheld · 2 years
· Preventive measure: travel ban (written undertaking)
· Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion
Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners
· Preventive measure: house arrest
· Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion
Memorial Human Rights Centre
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Preventive measure: pre-trial detention
Pre-trial Detention Centre №1 (SIZO-1) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russian Federation for the Smolensk Region
· Persecution begins
Second case of Jehovah's Witnesses in Smolensk region
Criminal case
Second case of Jehovah's Witnesses in Smolensk region
Other defendants in the case
- Tatiana Galkevich — At large, 2 years
Thematic group: The second case of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Smolensk Oblast
Details and sources
Full summary
A resident of Smolensk region. On 16 May 2019, taken into custody on charges of participation in the activities of an extremist organisation. On 22 November she was transferred to house arrest. On 14 October 2020, the court returned the case to the prosecutor's office. On 7 December 2020, the court of appeal reversed the decision. On 30 March 2022, the court of first instance released Vladimirova on her own recognisance and returned the case to the prosecutor's office. The case was considered together with the case of theft of gold items, cans of caviar and alcohol, in which Valentina Vladimirova is tried not only together with Tatiana Galkievich, who is also accused of participation in the activities of an extremist organisation, but also together with Aleksei Vladimirov. We do not have any information giving grounds to recognise these charges as politically motivated. In April 2023, the case of Vladimirova and Galkievich, now only under the article on the activities of an extremist organisation, was transferred to another court. On 14 February 2024, Vladimirova was sentenced to two years' suspended sentence.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
Other people prosecuted under Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.