Roman Mareyev after his release
Roman Mareyev after his release
On October 25, 2024, Roman Mareyev, 46, was released, having completely served his sentence for his faith. After the guilty verdict, he was never transferred to the penal colony. In total, he spent 1,100 days in three different pretrial detention centers in Moscow.
A criminal case against Mareyev was initiated in October 2021 and then his home was searched. He was placed in a temporary detention facility and then in a pretrial detention center. When Roman was placed in the pretrial detention center, he did not have a bed and slept on the floor. The believer's sister said that it was not easy for him to be in a smoky cell, hear obscene language from his cellmates and try to sleep with the TV turned on day and night. Reading the Bible, regular physical exercise, and weekly letters from family, friends and even people he did not know, helped Roman to stay positive. "During my years in detention, I received letters from 68 countries, not counting Russia," Roman said.
Roman's elderly parents, who are disabled, were very much looking forward to their son returning home. He is glad to be able to take care of them again.
Mareyev liked showing kindness to others while he was in detention. According to Roman, some inmates admitted that they had never before experienced such a positive atmosphere among cellmates. "This was possible because millions of people were praying," he said.
Roman and those close to him are grateful to everyone who went to the court hearings. "We had to stand outside all day in bad weather, but the friends were ready to make these sacrifices just to meet and see off the prison van with applause," his sister said. "Once the guys were taken out of the courthouse at 1:30 a.m., and despite such a late hour, they were greeted with applause."
Two other defendants in the criminal case, Anatoliy Marunov and Sergey Tolokonnikov, are still in custody.
