Name: Piskarev Vladimir Vladimirovich
Date of Birth: June 29, 1956
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 1215 day in a pre-trial detention, 218 day in prison
Sentence: punishment in the form of 6 years of imprisonment with serving in a correctional colony of general regime with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public and religious organizations and associations, for a period of 3 years, with restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year and 6 months
Currently held in: Penal Colony No. 1 for Kaluga Region
Address for correspondence: Piskarev Vladimir Vladimirovich, born 1956, Penal Colony No. 1 for Kaluga Region, Sukhinichi, Kaluga Region, 249275

Letters of support can be sent by regular mail or through the «zonatelecom».

Parcels and parcels should not be sent because of the limit on their number per year.

Note: discussing topics related to criminal prosecution is not allowed in letters; languages other than Russian will not pass.

Biography

Vladimir Piskarev is one of three civilians in Oryol who ended up behind bars because of their faith in Jehovah God in December 2020. The pre-trial detention center in which believers were placed, once known as the Oryol Central, is one of the oldest institutions in the Russian penal system. At one time, political prisoners of the Stalinist regime were placed there, so a monument to the victims of political repression was erected there. About 3 years later, Vladimir was sentenced to 6 years in prison for his beliefs.

Vladimir was born in 1956 in the city of Karpinsk (Sverdlovsk region). He has a younger brother. Their mother and father are no longer alive. As a child, the boy was fond of music, played the button accordion. He was also a radio amateur, collected stamps, skied and skates, was engaged in wood carving and painting.

After school, Vladimir graduated from a technical school, where he received the profession of an electromechanic. He worked as an electrician, signalman, power engineer, engineer. He is now retired.

In 1976, Vladimir married Tatyana, who was also prosecuted for faith about a year after Vladimir was taken into custody. The couple raised two children—a son and a daughter. When the children lived with them, they loved to go to the forest with the whole family to pick mushrooms, as well as visit the theater. In 1990, the family moved from Stary Oskol (Belgorod region) to the Caucasus, closer to their parents. They lived there for 10 years, and later settled in Oryol.

Vladimir loves justice and honesty. He wanted to find decent people living according to the commandments of Jesus Christ. Having met Jehovah's Witnesses in the early 1990s, he eventually made a decision to become a Christian too, which he did in 1995.

The criminal prosecution was a major shock. In prison, Vladimir's health problems worsened.

Case History

Since 2009, Vladimir Melnik, a father of many children from Oryol, has been keeping a record of pressure, threats and provocations from the FSB. In December 2020, his home was invaded by armed law enforcement officers. Vladimir Piskarev and Artur Putintsev were also detained. The believers were placed in a pretrial detention center and their names were added to the Rosfinmonitoring list. In January 2022, the case went to court. During the hearings, it became clear that a hidden wiretapping was installed in Piskarev’s apartment, from which audio recordings formed the basis of the charges. In the pretrial detention center, his health began to deteriorate — he suffered a stroke and more than one hypertensive crises. Nevertheless, the preventive measure was not mitigated neither for him, nor for Melnik or Putintsev. In October 2023, the court sentenced the three believers to 6 years in a penal colony. In March 2024, the court of appeal upheld the verdict.
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