At the exit from the penal colony, Andrey Andreyev was met by about 100 people - friends from Lipetsk, Voronezh, Kursk and Moscow. February 22, 2023
Andrey Andreyev, the Last of the Kursk Jehovah's Witnesses Convicted for Their Faith, Released From the Colony
Kursk Region, Lipetsk RegionOn February 22, 2023, to the applause of relatives and friends, Andrey Andreyev was released from a penal colony in Lipetsk. He served the complete term given by the court - 4.5 years - for his faith in Jehovah God.
About a hundred people waited for more than two hours in a temperature of -17 degrees to welcome Andrey.
In fact, Andrey Andreyev spent 3 years, 4 months and 9 days behind bars. For most of this period, he was in a pre-trial detention center.
Recalling his stay in the detention center, Andrey said: “[It] did not make me bitter, although all this time I was surrounded by negativity... I prayed daily to maintain my love for God and my neighbor. I have no resentment, no hatred towards anyone, not even anger, because this would not be right. Some cellmates in the detention center were inspired by Andrey's healthy lifestyle: they decided to quit smoking and take up sports.
On January 20, 2022, Andreyev was taken to a penal colony in Lipetsk to serve his remaining sentence. There he worked as a roofer. For good work, the believer received a commendation from the administration, but a few days later he was fined on trumped-up charges. According to the lawyer, this was done to deprive Andrey of the grounds for parole.
Of the five convicted Jehovah's Witnesses from Kursk, Andrey Andreyev received the most severe punishment. Other defendants in the case - Andrey Ryshkov, Artem and Alevtina Bagratyan - have already been released, and Alexandr Vospitanyuk is still serving a suspended sentence.
The believers still consider their criminal prosecution groundless and unfair. The European Court of Human Rights agrees with them. In its judgment of 7 June 2022, it acknowledged that the Russian Federation had violated the right to freedom of religion of Jehovah's Witnesses: “By prosecuting the applicants merely for continuing worship, the Russian authorities imposed a disproportionate and unjustifiable burden on their exercise of freedom of religion and association” (§ 260).
