Name: Naymushin Sergey Ilich
Date of Birth: April 24, 1984
Current status: defendant
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Current restrictions: recognizance agreement

Biography

Sergey Naymushin, a Jehovah's Witness from the Republic of Mari El, found out about the criminal case initiated against him when security forces searched his home.

Sergey was born in April 1984 in the city of Yoshkar-Ola. As a child, he was fond of various sports, most of all he loved to play football. After school, he trained as a car mechanic and worked in various car services, then as a driver for intercity buses. Later, Sergey got a higher education in economics. He still likes to play sports, especially he likes going to the swimming pool.

From childhood his mother instilled high moral values in Sergey. When they were invited to a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1995, they gladly accepted and eagerly began studying the Bible. Soon they both became Jehovah's Witnesses.

Relatives and friends are worried about Sergey and do not understand why he is being prosecuted.

Case History

In April 2022, the FSB initiated a criminal case against Jehovah’s Witnesses from Yoshkar-Ola. Searches were carried out at nine addresses; law enforcement officers used force against one of the believers, Yevgeny Plotnikov. He was arrested and subsequently placed in a detention center. In August 2022, Yevgeny was placed under house arrest, and in October he was placed under a ban on certain activities. From December of the same year, the FSB investigator began making other residents of the city defendants – Sergey Kulikov and his son Aleksey, Eduard Kapitonov and his son Ilya, Igor Alekseyev, Vladimir Usenko and Denis Petrov. The investigator regarded practicing their faith as extremist actions. The believers were made to sign a recognizance agreement. The case went to court in October 2024.
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