Aleksandr Serebryakov Has Not Yet Served Suspended Term for His Faith, But Received Second Sentence - 5 Years in a Penal Colony

On December 13, 2024, Olga Karamysheva, judge of the Savelovskiy District Court of Moscow, found Aleksandr Serebryakov guilty of financing the activity of an extremist organization. This is the second sentence given to the believer for his religious activity.

Since August 2022, Serebryakov has been serving a 6-year suspended term — the Golovinskiy District Court of Moscow found him guilty of organizing the activity of an extremist organization for holding meetings for worship. Prior to this verdict, the believer had been kept in a pretrial detention center for more than 1.5 years. He found himself behind bars again in September 2023 after a new series of searches in several districts of Moscow and in the Moscow Region. In total, Serebryakov spent 3 years in the detention center.

The second case has been under the court's consideration since September 2024. Aleksandr was charged with violating Article 282.3 (1) of the RF CrC for providing food to believers participating in a lengthy worship event. To this, Aleksandr replied: "[It was] specific help specific for people who... are not members of liquidated legal entities. Moreover, if you divide the amount imputed to me by the number of fellow believers, you will get 250 rubles per person. You can't even buy a business lunch for this amount in Moscow, what kind of financing are we talking about? This is absurd." The defendant continued: "The investigation has not established any facts indicating that I financed any legal entities."

In the family of Aleksandr Serebryakov, two more people faced prosecution for their faith: his mother-in-law and father-in-law, the Krutyakovs, Zinaida and Yuriy. They were given a 2-year and 3-month and 6-year suspended sentence respectively. "All of this resulted in stress, pain, tears and illness," Aleksandr said. During his first imprisonment in a pretrial detention center, he suffered from covid which led to a critical stage of lung damage and a difficult period of rehabilitation. In his final statement, the believer addressed his elderly mother: "I have done nothing wrong or illegal. I am not guilty before the law, or before the state, or before God... You've raised me well. I am being judged for my friendship with God and my desire to please him."

In Moscow, out of 18 accused Jehovah's Witnesses, 10 received long prison sentences.