Updated: March 28, 2024
Name: Khmil Valeriy Anatoliyevich
Date of Birth: April 8, 1982
Current status: Defendant
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 1 day in a temporary detention facility, 56 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: Recognizance agreement

Biography

Valeriy Khmil, an exemplary family man and father of many children from the town of Gryazi, turned out to be one of the peaceful believers against whom a criminal case was initiated in June 2021 under an "extremist" article.

Valery was born in April 1982 in the city of Kolpashevo, Tomsk Region. He has a younger brother. As a child, Valery was engaged in weightlifting and running.

On the basis of the school curriculum, Valery received the profession of a cook of the 3rd category. After school, he worked as a grinder in a carpentry workshop, cook, freight forwarder and storekeeper, most recently as a senior storekeeper.

In February 2006, in Tomsk, Valery met Kira, and a year and a half later they got married. Kira loves to go to the forest for mushrooms and berries, collect herbs for fragrant tea, and is fond of baking yeast-free bread. The couple have three schoolchildren: two girls and a boy. Parents try to develop the creative abilities of each child. The eldest daughter studies at a music school, plays the flute, the son is at an art school, and the youngest daughter loves to dance and dreams of learning to play the guitar. Valeriy has a very friendly family, they love to walk together in the forest and travel by car.

In 2006, Valeriy attended a major worship service of Jehovah's Witnesses. There he learned that, according to the Bible, God is a person and has qualities such as devotion and love. This prompted Valeriy to study the Holy Scriptures. His wife, Kira, had respected the Bible since childhood. In 2008, together they decided to embark on the Christian path.

Search, detention, house arrest - all this greatly influenced the quiet life of the family. Valery is worried about how to provide financially for his large family. Valeriy's mother wonders how her son can be persecuted for his faith, thanks to which he put his life in order.

Case History

In November 2020, officers of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on extremism, and the next day, accompanied by riot police, conducted a series of searches at 9 addresses of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the town of Gryazi. Five peaceful believers, including two pensioners, were detained and sent to a temporary detention facility. Natalia Perekatiy, Tatyana Morlang and Svetlana Vyrezkova were released 2 days later on their own recognizance, and Yevgeny Reshetnikov and Sergey Kretov were sent to a pre-trial detention center. In June 2021, two more believers were detained as part of the same criminal case: Aleksandr Popras and Valeriy Khmil. No preventive measure was chosen against Popras, and Khmil was placed under house arrest for 57 days. Kretov and Reshetnikov spent about 8 months in a pre-trial detention center and 4 months under house arrest. In November 2023, the court began considering the case.