Updated: March 28, 2024
Name: Chermnykh Anton Yevgeniyevich
Date of Birth: May 31, 1987
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Current restrictions: Suspended sentence
Sentence: punishment in the form of 6 years of imprisonment with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public organizations for a term of 5 years and with restriction of liberty for a term of 1 year, punishment in the form of imprisonment shall be considered conditional with a probationary period of 4 years

Biography

Another resident of Ussuriysk was charged with extremism on the basis of religion. After the meeting in the café where the Bible was discussed, Anton Chermnykh will be in the dock. What do we know about him?

Anton was born in 1987 in Magdeburg, Germany, where his parents did military service under a contract. Anton has a twin brother Maxim. Later, the family moved to a military garrison in Krasny Kut (Primorsky Krai), and then to Ussuriysk. The father left the family, he does not keep in touch with his adult sons.

When Anton and Maksim were still young, their mother began to read the Bible and instilled an interest in it in her sons. Anton liked that the Bible clearly and clearly answers questions that many people find philosophical, such as what is the meaning of life and why is there so much suffering.

After school, Anton graduated with a degree in Applied Informatics in Economics. He worked as a software engineer in the housing and utilities sector, then as a worker in the city dentistry. I've always been fond of computers. Other interests: fishing and hiking, which now he cannot go out because of his recognizance not to leave.

In 2011, Anton asked the military registration and enlistment office to provide alternative civilian service (ACS). He passed it in a special department of a psychiatric clinic, where patients who have committed especially serious crimes and are declared insane lie. Paradoxically, now a peaceful person whose conscience did not allow him to take up arms will be tried for extremism.

In 2013, Anton married Ekaterina. She is a housewife, loves to draw, sew, skate. The couple have a daughter, Milana.

The criminal prosecution changed the whole life of the young family. Anton worries that his family may lose their husband and father. "Now I'm raising a daughter who is 5 years old," he says. "And in the case of a guilty verdict and serving a sentence, I will see my daughter when she is 15 years old. I grew up without a father, I know how difficult it is. I made a promise to myself that I would never repeat my father's mistakes and that I would never leave my child. And then there is a criminal case ... Anton's relatives are also very worried about what is happening and do not understand why he is being persecuted.

Case History

In June 2019 in the city of Ussuriysk, searches were conducted in the homes of peaceful citizens Sergey Korolchuk and Dmitriy Tishchenko. The searches were conducted because of a criminal case under Article 282.2(1) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation initiated by E. Marvanyuk, the investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Primorsky Territory. The third defendant was Anton Chermnykh, the father of a young child. The case was based on the testimony of FSB officer K. Rusakov, who for about a year followed the believers and listened in on Tishchenko’s telephone conversations. In the opinion of the investigation, by meeting friends in a cafe to discuss the Bible, the men committed “a crime against the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the State.” The believers were under house arrest for almost three years. In September 2020 Judge Dmitry Babushkin began considering the case in the Ussuriysky District Court. The defense emphasized that the key witness gave false testimony, and expert Oleshkevich made a biased and incompetent conclusion. On November 30, 2022, the judge found the believers guilty and gave them six-year suspended prison sentences, and in May 2023 the appellate court upheld this decision.