Biography
On February 15, 2019, mass searches were carried out in the homes of believers in Surgut. This was followed by beatings and torture of at least 7 believers. Among others, Yevgeniy Kayryak was tortured. What is known about him?
Yevgeniy was born in 1986 in Surgut and grew up in a close-knit family with three children. After graduating from school, he received the professions of an accountant and an economist-manager. In 2011 he was retrained and since then he has been working as a technician in the laboratory of metals.
Yevgeny's family became acquainted with the teachings of the Bible in the mid-90s, and a few years later Yevgeniy decided to serve God. He knew from childhood that disciples of Jesus Christ were to love one another, and he did see that love among his family and friends.
In 2016, Evgeniy married Rosanna. She sings and dances well. Spouses love to spend time together, play board games, ride bicycles. Relatives are deeply worried about Yevgeniy because of everything that he had to go through.
Case History
In February 2019, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case against 18 men and 1 woman from Surgut (among them was a person mistaken for one of Jehovah's Witnesses). Their homes were searched. During the interrogations, 7 believers were subjected to violence. Artur Severinchik was sent to a pretrial detention center for 29 days, while Yevgeniy Fedin and Sergey Loginov — for 56 days. Timofey Zhukov was unlawfully placed in a psychiatric hospital for 14 days. The believers filed complaints about the use of torture with the Investigative Committee, the ECHR and the Human Rights Ombudsman; a press conference was held with the participation of human rights activists, but none of the law enforcement officers was brought to justice. In October 2021, materials of the case (which was put into separate proceeding in 2020) went to court. Two years later, the court gave all of the believers suspended sentences ranging from 4 to 7 years. In February 2025, the court of appeal upheld this decision.
