Name: Belosludtsev Yuriy Nikolaevich
Date of Birth: May 1, 1964
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1.1), 282.2 (2)
Time spent in prison: 1 day in a temporary detention facility, 192 day in a pre-trial detention, 146 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: suspended sentence
Sentence: punishment in the form of 6 years of imprisonment with restriction of liberty for a term of 1 year 9 months, punishment in the form of imprisonment shall be considered conditional with a probationary period of 5 years

Biography

On March 17, 2019, mass interrogations and detentions of citizens for their faith took place in the village of Luchegorsk (Primorye Territory). Two days later, the court ruled to send two local believers to the pre-trial detention center. One of them is Yuri Belosludtsev. What do we know about him?

Yuriy was born in 1964 in the village of Smidovich (Jewish Autonomous Region). He has an elder brother. As a child, he often lived with his grandmother in the village and used to help with the housework. He graduated from the Primorsky Forestry Technical School. He worked at the state district power plant, first as a crawler, later as a power unit driver. He likes fishing in the summer and skiing in the winter. In addition to Smidovich and Luchegorsk, he lived for some time in Novoshakhtinsk (Primorsky Krai).

In 1985, Yuri married Elena, whom he met during his studies. A few years later, both spouses were impressed by the fulfilled prophecies from the Bible, as well as God's promise to remove evil and suffering from the earth. They decided to devote more time to Bible study. Yuriy and Elena have adult children.

Yuri's relatives do not share his religious views, but even they find it difficult to understand why he is behind bars.

Case History

In March 2019, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case for their faith against Yuriy Belosludtsev and Sergey Sergeyev from the village of Luchegorsk. They were accused of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and involving others in it. The investigation considered that the men were in a “criminal conspiracy” to “study and discuss religious material on topics about Jehovah.” Later, operatives searched their homes. The believers spent more than six months in a pre-trial detention center, and then another 5 months under house arrest. In June 2020, court hearings began, and a year and a half later, Belosludtsev and Sergeyev were sentenced to 6 years probation. The prosecutor asked for a sentence of 5.5 and 5 years in prison, respectively. The Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction.