The verdict has been announced for the 66th Jehovah's Witness. In Birobidzhan, a court sentenced Larisa Artamonova to a fine for her belief in God

On February 12, 2021, Judge Vladimir Mikhalev of the Birobidzhan District Court found Larisa Artamonova guilty under Part 2, Article 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code (participation in extremist activities). With reference to Article 64 of the Criminal Code, the court sentenced her to a fine of 10,000 rubles ($135) with payment in installments for 4 months.

In the Jewish Autonomous Region, there have already been several convictions of peaceful believers who exercised their constitutional right to freedom of religion. Among them are Yevgeny Golik, Anastasia Sycheva and Artur Lokhvitsky, Igor Tsarev. Larisa Artamonova became the 14th woman in modern Russia to be punished under a criminal article for her profession of faith in Jehovah. The total number of those convicted throughout Russia is 64. (14 women and 51 men; the youngest was 23, the oldest 74).

In early childhood, Larisa Artamonova received psychological trauma because of the murder of her father. Later, she had to raise her son, who suffers from a rare disease, alone, as well as overcome her own health problems. The criminal prosecution of Larisa Artamonova began sometime after the infamous FSB special operation codenamed "Judgment Day," involving 150 law enforcement officers.

Larisa, as a person who believes in God and has the right to freedom of religion guaranteed to her by the Russian Constitution, met with co-religionists to pray and discuss the Bible. The investigation calls such meetings "active participation in an illegal religious event for the purpose of spreading the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The case against Larisa Artamonova was initiated on September 25, 2019. Due to her recognizance not to leave, she was restricted in the right to move freely for almost 1.5 years. The investigation was conducted by the SO of the FSB of Russia in the Jewish Autonomous Region. Cases against at least 12 believers, including Larisa Artamonova, were handled by the same investigator, D. Yankin. The investigation lasted about 5 months. On March 3, 2020, the case was submitted to the Birobidzhan District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region. The court hearings lasted almost a year. On April 13, 2020, the preliminary hearing in the case of Larisa Artamonova was postponed, and on May 7, 2020, the court proceedings were suspended for 5 months and resumed on October 22, 2020. Larisa Artamonova's criminal case was heard by the same judge who hears cases against Elena Reino-Chernyshova and Yulia Kaganovich. In the Birobidzhan District Court, 14 criminal cases against believers are at various stages of consideration.

Russian and foreign figures and organizations unanimously condemn the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. They include the Russian Human Rights Ombudsman, the Presidential Human Rights Council, the Russian President, prominent Russian public figures, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that decisions of Russian courts to liquidate and ban Jehovah's Witnesses organizations "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses and do not contain restrictions or bans on individual practice of the aforementioned doctrine.