Biography
Eduard Merinkov was born in January 1975 in Pechora (Komi Republic). He has a younger sister. Since childhood, he loves to relax and walk in nature. Especially he was drawn to the river Pechora, on which stands the city of the same name. He was fond of modeling sailing ships.
Eduard graduated from vocational school as a crane driver, but most of his life he worked on railway transport in various specialties. Last time works as the compiler of trains. In 1997 he married Valentina. The spouses are bringing up daughter Iolanta.
Since 1992, Eduard is very interested in the spiritual. Reflections on the Bible led him to the idea that there should be a loving Creator. By the second half of the 1990s, both spouses were convinced Christians.
At first, it was difficult for Eduard and Valentina to adapt to life under pressure from the state because of their faith. However, the family was not discouraged and maintained a positive attitude.
Case History
In January 2020, law enforcement officers searched 12 houses in Pechora. Several people were detained, including Gennadiy Polyakevich and Gennadiy Skutelets. On the same day, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case against them for extremism. The court sent Polyakevich to a pretrial detention center, where he spent 301 days, and placed Skutelets under house arrest for 364 days. In November 2020, another investigator of the Investigative Committee initiated a new criminal case against Nikolay Anufriyev, Eduard Merinkov, Aleksandr Vorontsov, and Aleksandr Prilepskiy. They were placed under arecognizance agreements. The case went to court in May 2021, and 8 months later it was returned to the prosecutor. In December 2022, at the age of 58, Aleksandr Prilepskiy died from the consequences of COVID-19. In April 2023, the case went to court again. The court issued a verdict 1 year and 2 months later - fines from 200,000 to 600,000 rubles. Aleksandr Prilepskiy was found guilty posthumously.
