Olga Zhelavskaya
- Criminal Code
- Article 282.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Extremism casesCases against Jehovah's Witnesses
- Verdict
- Suspended prison sentence
- Sentence
- 2 years
- Date of verdict
- 2023-04-17
- Region
- Chelyabinsk Oblast
- City
- Chelyabinsk
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
A resident of Chelyabinsk. She worked as a passport officer and dispatcher. On March 26, 2019, her home was searched as part of the case involving the organisation of activities of an extremist organisation initiated against Vladimir Suvorov. Later, Zhelavskaya was charged with participating in the activities of an extremist organisation - as in the case of Suvorov, in connection with her involvement in the Jehovah's Witnesses community. Members of this community are prosecuted under extremist articles solely for their religious activities, such as holding meetings and worship services or recruiting new members. On April 14, 2023 Zhelavskaya was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison 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.