Name: Мясникова Мария Александровна
Date of Birth: January 10, 1994
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Current restrictions: recognizance agreement
Sentence: punishment in the form of 2 years 2 months of imprisonment, imprisonment shall be replaced by forced labor for a period of 2 years 2 months with deduction of 10% from wages to the state, with restriction of liberty for a period of 6 months

Biography

In July 2021, unexpected changes took place in the life of 27-year-old Mariya Portnyagina (Myasnikova) from Blagoveshchensk. The excitement and joy of the upcoming marriage were clouded by criminal prosecutions for believing in Jehovah God.

Mariya was born in January 1994 in the village of Chernigovka (Amur Region) in a large family. She has an elder brother, a twin sister and a younger sister. Parents, despite their retirement age, continue to work. As a child, Mariya was engaged in choreography and dancing, loved to play football. During her school years she lived in the city of Svobodny (Amur Region), and later moved to study in Blagoveshchensk, where she remained to live.

As a child, Mariya liked to do hairstyles, so after graduating from school she entered the lyceum, where she received the specialty of a universal hairdresser. She worked as a hairdresser, later as a nurse in a polyclinic. Recently she worked as a housekeeper and office manager. In her free time, Mariya enjoys playing sports ball games, as well as writing poetry and singing.

Mariya's mother tried to instill in her daughter a love of the Bible from infancy. Therefore, even in her youth, the girl made a conscious decision to embark on the Christian path. She was touched by biblical prophecies and their exact fulfillment, as well as the biblical promise of eternal life on a paradise earth.

On September 21, 2021, Maria married Nikolay Myasnikov. Nikolay shares his wife's religious beliefs. He loves to learn languages.

The criminal prosecution did not break Mariya's spirit, but it affected her emotional state. Due to the stress she has experienced, she has to deal with feelings of anxiety. Relatives worry about the girl and are outraged by the unjustified attitude of the authorities towards peaceful believers.

Case History

In July 2021, Kristina Golik, Valentina Yermilova, Ekaterina Olshevskaya and Maria Portnyagina (née Myasnikova) became defendants in a criminal case for believing in Jehovah God. Peaceful women from Blagoveshchensk were accused of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. A month earlier, Kristina Golik’s husband, Dmitry, had been sentenced to 7 years in prison for talking about God. The husbands of two other women, Anton Olshevskiy and Sergei Yermilov, were under investigation at the time. The case against the women was initiated by the investigator of the SO of the FSB in the Amur Region Obukhov. He claimed that they committed illegal acts, “wishing for the occurrence of socially dangerous consequences,” as he called the participation of believers in discussions of biblical topics. All four were placed on recognizance not to leave. In May 2023, the case went to court. In December 2024, the court sentenced the women to forced labor for terms ranging from two years and two months to two and a half years.
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