Updated: March 28, 2024
Name: Parfentyev Georgiy Konstantinovich
Date of Birth: November 3, 1946
Current status: charges withdrawn
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Died while under investigation

Biography

In December 2019, in Nevinnomyssk, the Investigative Committee opened criminal cases under two extremist articles against 9 elderly believers. One of the victims of persecution was Georgiy Parfentyev, an amateur gardener. All charges were later dropped from him. In July 2023, the elderly man passed away.

Georgiy was born in 1946 in the village of Stepanchikovo, Yaroslavl region. His mother was a milkmaid, and the man did not remember his father. His childhood was active: he went skiing with friends and every day overcame 5 kilometres, going to school through marshland.

After school, Georgiy entered the railway school, where he studied as a locksmith for the repair of wagons and brakes. He worked as a grinder at a factory—first in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, then in Yaroslavl, where he moved to take care of his disabled mother, and from 1992 until retirement—in Nevinnomyssk. In retirement, an elderly man was doing what he loved—growing plants on his land and harvesting for the whole family.

In 1970, Georgiy met his future wife. Tatyana is a kindergarten teacher by profession. Together the spouses led an active lifestyle: skiing, skating and dreaming of a brighter future. The couple raised and educated their three children—their daughter graduated from a music school, their eldest son graduated from a construction institute, and the youngest received a degree in mechanical engineering.

In the early 1990s, the couple became interested in the Bible. “The Bible has answers to all questions that help me be happy,” Georgiy said.

The criminal prosecution greatly overshadowed the life of Georgy and his wife, and also hit their health, leading to an exacerbation of long-standing illnesses. The children considered the accusations of extremism to be unfair and meaningless.

Case History

In November 2018, mass searches took place in Nevinnomyssk. A year later, the Investigative Committee opened criminal cases under two “extremist” articles against Anatoly Boyko, Yevgenia Akhrameeva, Georgy and Tatyana Parfentyev, Nadezhda Konkova, Sergey Kuznetsov, Karina Sahakyan and Rimma Vashchenko (Rimma died under investigation at the age of 90). In May 2022, the investigator stopped the criminal prosecution against everyone except Sergey Kuznetsov, who is visually impaired, has hearing problems and has difficulty moving. In August 2022, the case went to court. After 5 months, the case was transferred to another judge. The prosecution was based on the testimony of a secret witness. In April 2023, the court sentenced the believer to 6 years of suspended imprisonment. In the summer of the same year, the appeal upheld the verdict. Shortly thereafter, Georgy Parfentiev died at the age of 76.