Court Refused to Release Seriously Ill Anatoliy Marunov From Penal Colony; His Family Fears for His Life

On July 28, 2025, the Rasskazovskiy District Court of the Tambov Region refused to reduce the sentence of Anatoliy Marunov, 71, one of Jehovah's Witnesses. "His illnesses make a further stay in the penal colony unbearable as he is in constant pain," said Marunov's lawyer. "It is highly unlikely that he will survive the rest of his term."

The official reason for the refusal was an oral reprimand (the smallest possible disciplinary sanction in the penal colony), which the believer was issued 2 weeks after the lawyer filed a motion with the court to change the punishment. According to the administration of the penal colony, Marunov made an incorrect inventory of the contents of his duffel bag; however, he was not told what exactly the discrepancy was. In court, the representative of the penal colony also could not answer what exactly Anatoliy had indicated incorrectly.

Marunov has been diagnosed with severe chronic illnesses: he had an ischemic stroke, suffers from hypertension and heart failure, and has a prostate tumor. The believer is serving his sentence in penal colony No. 3 in the Tambov Region, where, according to the defense, he does not receive the necessary medical care. "Once his temperature rose to 40, but no one reacted," recalls Anatoliy's wife, Alfiya. "The cellmates themselves put him on a stretcher, carried him to the medical unit and demanded that an ambulance be called for him."

The prisoner's family notes that since entering the penal colony, about six months ago, he has lost more than 20 kilograms. "When I saw him, I was shocked," Alfiya said after visiting her husband a few days before the hearing about changing his punishment. "Tubes everywhere, catheters, bags... This is no longer a person, but a living corpse. He left a handsome man, and now..." In January, he underwent a cystostomy to fit a drainage tube; this device requires regular replacement due to the risk of atrophy of internal organs, but it has long passed its expiry date.

Marunov needs surgery, but it is technically impossible to carry it out in the Tambov Region. His family found a suitable hospital for the believer in Moscow, but the conditions of the standard transfer of prisoners are not suitable for someone in his condition. According to Anatoliy's wife, he may not be able to withstand the journey. "I am not asking for leniency," Alfiya wrote in a letter to the administration of the court deciding the fate of the believer, "I am asking for compassion."

International human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The European Court of Human Rights has found the ban on their activity a violation of religious freedom, but criminal cases continue to be initiated. Already 14 believers have died while under investigation. The last of them was Valeriy Baylo, who died in a pretrial detention center in the spring of 2025.