Name: Plotnikov Yevgeniy Viktorovich
Date of Birth: May 17, 1982
Current status: defendant
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 117 day in a pre-trial detention, 56 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: prohibition of certain actions

Biography

In April 2022, Yevgeniy Plotnikov, a civilian resident of Yoshkar-Ola, was subjected to criminal prosecution only because of his beliefs —the security forces aggressively invaded the believer. After a search, he was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center.

Yevgeniy was born in 1982 in the village of Dalniy (Altai Territory). He has an elder brother. Their parents are retired. As a child, Yevgeniy was fond of clay modeling and drawing.

After school, Yevgeniy acquired the profession of an electrician of the fourth category. He worked in the Surgut communications and radio navigation center. Later he worked as a watchman on duty at the Center for Humanitarian Education, as well as at in construction.

In his free time, Yevgeniy, like in childhood, loves to draw and sculpt. He also goes hiking in the mountains and snowboarding.

In 2001, Yevgeniy, following the example of his mother, decided to become a Christian. Because of his peace-loving convictions, he did not want to learn to fight, so he asked for the opportunity to do an alternative civilian service, which he was never given due to frequent moves—he led an active lifestyle and visited Surgut, Shadrinsk, Khanty-Mansiysk and many other cities.

The criminal persecution for faith causes concern for Yevgeniy's mother and brother, since they live far from the pre-trial detention center and cannot visit him.

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.
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