Updated: March 28, 2024
Name: Aliyev Alam Abdulaziz
Date of Birth: January 14, 1963
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 1 day in a temporary detention facility, 171 day in a pre-trial detention, 301 day in prison
Sentence: punishment in the form of 6 years 6 months of imprisonment with serving a sentence in a correctional colony of general regime, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public organizations for a term of 4 years 6 months, with restriction of liberty for a term of 1 year
Currently held in: Penal Colony No. 8 in Amur Region
Address for correspondence: Aliyev Alam Abdulaziz, born 1963, IK No. 8 in Amur Region, ul. Albazinskaya, 45, g. Blagoveshchensk, Amur Region, Russia, 675020

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Note: discussing topics related to criminal prosecution is not allowed in letters; languages other than Russian will not pass.

Biography

In May 2018, Alam Aliyev was detained during an operation code-named "Judgment Day", in which 150 law enforcement officers took part. He spent 8 days in a detention center. The believer was accused of organizing the activity of an extremist organization. After 4.5 years, the court found him guilty and sent him to a penal colony for 6.5 years only because of his faith in Jehovah God.

Alam was born in 1963 in the village of Lyaki (Azerbaijan) in a large family of simple workers. Alam has 2 brothers and 3 sisters. As a child, Alam was fond of checkers, but he was not particularly obedient. He did his military service in Germany and then got a job as a sailor on a fishing boat.

In 1989, Alam moved to Khabarovsk, where he began to read the Bible and was impressed with what he learned from it. In 1991, he chose to become a Christian. His parents, who professed Islam, initially did not approve of this, but they began to respect Alam's faith after they saw positive changes in him. His mother was so delighted with how the Bible changed her son that she told the neighbors: "Alam became like an angel".

In recent years, Alam worked as a machinist in a boiler room. He has two adult children from his first marriage. Alam remarried in 2015 after the death of his first wife. He likes to spend time in nature with his family and in his free time he enjoys playing chess.

Alam's wife, Svetlana, also became a victim of criminal prosecution for her faith - she was given a 2.5-year suspended sentence. Standing before the court, Alam firmly stated: “I am not ashamed to stand before the court for being one of Jehovah's Witnesses. It would be shameful if I was tried for a real crime”.

Case History

In May 2018, the city of Birobidzhan hosted a special FSB operation with the participation of 150 security officials, code-named "Judgement Day". More than 20 families of Jehovah's Witnesses have become victims of criminal prosecution, including Alam Aliyev, Valeriy Kriger, Sergey Shulyarenko, and Dmitriy Zagulin. The believers were accused of holding joint worship services, which the investigation considered to be the organization of the activities of the extremist organization and its financing. They spent more than 5 months in the pre-trial detention center. In November 2020, the case went to court. The hearings lasted more than 2 years, and in December 2022, the court sentenced Dmitriy Zagulin to 3 years and 6 months, Alam Aliyev to 6 years and 6 months, and Sergey Shulyarenko and Valeriy Kriger to 7 years in prison. The appeal confirmed the terms of Zagulin and Aliyev, and reduced those of Shulyarenko and Krieger by 3 months. The court of cassation upheld the verdict in March 2024. The wives of the three convicts were also prosecuted: Svetlana Monis, Tatyana Zagulina and Natalya Kriger. In September 2023, Sergey Shulyarenko's wedding took place in the colony.