"The Years I Could Have Spent With My Family Cannot Be Returned" — Yevgeniy Korotun Released After Six Years Behind Bars

On October 6, 2026, Yevgeniy Korotun, a 56-year-old one of Jehovah's Witnesses, was released from the penal colony in Nizhniy Tagil, located 2,000 kilometers from his native Seversk. Taking into account his time in the pretrial detention center, he fully served the term assigned to him only for practicing his faith.

"What I worry most about is that I will not see my son grow up," Yevgeniy said, just after he ended up behind bars. "The years I could have spent with my family cannot be returned." At that time his son was only 9 years old.

Yevgeniy used every opportunity to support his wife, Yevgeniya, and care for their child. During the four years the believer spent in the penal colony, the family had 14 visits. The Korotuns spoke on the phone almost every day. "Zhenya wrote separate letters to his son," the believer's wife recounted, "he would pick a topic, develop it, reason with Sasha through questions, make small pen drawings, and send quizzes with various interesting assignments."

Yevgeniy has a congenital heart defect; during his imprisonment, he often suffered severe headaches. In the penal colony, the believer was first assigned to clean the grounds and perform odd jobs. Later, he was transferred to work related to collecting, receiving, and shipping paper, plastic, and packaging cardboard.

Over the years of imprisonment, Korotun received about 10,000 letters. "Thank you to the friends who enclosed stamps, postcards, and various drawings in the envelopes. That created a cycle of love: Zhenya could not only receive letters but also send them, which brought him a lot of joy," said Yevgeniya.

The criminal case against Korotun was initiated in July 2020. He was charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization. Nearly a year and a half later, the court sent the believer to the penal colony. On the same day, a guilty verdict was issued against Yevgeniy's brother-in-law, Andrey Kolesnichenko.

In total, seven of Jehovah's Witnesses in Seversk have faced criminal prosecution for their faith.