Sean Pike after his release, October 2, 2026
On October 2, 2026, Sean Pike, a citizen of Guyana and Russia convicted for practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, was released from penal colony No. 9 in the Novgorod Region, having fully served his sentence.
"I am very happy. There is nothing like this feeling! — said the former prisoner, describing his emotions. — I call the time spent in prison a course on 'Getting to know yourself and the Father'. I saw that God took care of me in advance; he was always with me. In many situations, he gave me peace and comfort, including through other people."
Sean spent most of his sentence — over 4 years — in pretrial detention. There, he contracted COVID-19 and developed hypertension. "Your vision worsens when you spend many years in a cell. But I have glasses, they help," Sean said with a smile. "Of course, imprisonment affects your health. Now medical examination would be appropriate."
Moreover, he faced racial discrimination: in the detention center he had to sleep on the floor at the beginning. Sean recounted that once one of his cellmates tried to provoke him into a fight, but Pike replied that a fight would not happen and continued to treat the man well. After his release, that cellmate wrote to Sean: "I wanted to express my deepest gratitude for everything you did for me. In life, I think it is rare to meet a truly pure and sincere person like you." Another former prisoner commented on Pike: "Honest, decent, kind — I am glad I met such a person." Yet another cellmate, before Pike's release, told him: "Sean, what will I do without you? Who will I turn to for advice?"
While behind bars, Sean continued to care for his family — his wife, Tatyana, and their two teenage daughters, the eldest having a disability. He encouraged them when they visited him, wrote personal letters to his wife and both daughters, taking into account their circumstances and needs. In one letter, Sean shared with his wife: "Everything seems completely bad, but at this moment I understand that I am doing everything right... And this gives me a deep sense of joy."
According to him, the hardest thing in prison was dealing with his own imagination: "You often imagine things that are not real; you wind yourself up. But prayer helped a lot, as did the Bible. When you tell the Father everything in detail in prayer, it is as if he lifts the burden off your shoulders. The same thing happened when I read letters, especially when I was feeling bad. After a while, I would become completely absorbed in them. They seemed to wash away unwanted thoughts, and I felt better. It's like you're transported to another world; I focused on good things, imagined the places people wrote about. It helped a lot."
Throughout his sentence, Sean and his family were supported by friends. They regularly attended court hearings and sent parcels to the detention center and the penal colony. According to his loved ones, after Sean's arrest, "gifts came pouring in from all over the world." Friends brought food, invited the family to visit, and provided financial assistance.
"Our family has a tradition — celebrating the wedding anniversary," Sean said. "When I was in pretrial detention, friends always prepared gifts for my wife. And my wife always ordered a cake for me so that I could celebrate that day with my cellmates. But when I arrived at the penal colony, it was no longer possible to order a cake. And still, I got one! A cellmate who knew nothing about our anniversary or family tradition brought me a third of a large cake that very morning and said, 'Here, this is a gift for you.' I was so touched!"
Once, an elderly person sent Sean knitted socks while he was in custody. "So, they thought about me and my family; they prayed for us," Pike recalled. "I love them very much; I want to hug them and say thank you."
Sean Pike was detained together with other believers in August 2021. In December 2023, the court found him guilty of organizing the activity of an extremist organization and sentenced him to 7 years' imprisonment. In Moscow, for similar charges, 23 Jehovah's Witnesses have already been subjected to criminal prosecution.
