Shulyarenko Sergey

Updated: April 19, 2024
Name: Shulyarenko Sergey Aleksandrovich
Date of Birth: November 16, 1984
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)
Time spent in prison: 164 day in a pre-trial detention, 323 day in prison
Sentence: Sentence of 6 years and 9 months of imprisonment in a penal colony, deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership and participation in the work of public organizations for a term of 4 years, restriction of liberty for a term of 1 year
Currently held in: Penal Colony No. 8 in Amur Region
Address for correspondence: Shulyarenko Sergey Aleksandrovich, born 1984, IK No. 8 in Amur Region, ul. Albazinskaya, 45, g. Blagoveshchensk, Amur Region, Russia, 675020

Letters of support can be sent by regular mail or through the «FSIN-letter system». To pay for service with the card of a foreign bank use Prisonmail.

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

On May 17, 2018, a massive raid on Jehovah's Witnesses took place in the city of Birobidzhan. The operation, code-named "Judgment Day", involved 150 security officials. One of the believers, Sergey Shulyarenko, was accused of collecting donations for worship services. Four and a half years later, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to seven years in a penal colony.

Sergey was born in 1984 in the city of  Khabarovsk. He has two older brothers. For some time, Sergey lived with his parents in Turkmenistan; his father was in the military. Later, the family returned to the Far East region of Russia and settled in the small village of Budukan, Jewish Autonomous Region. As a child, Sergey learned Christian values from his mother.

Sergey entered the medical college of Birobidzhan but did not graduate due to an injury and disability. Later, he graduated from a vocational school as a machinist in opencast mining and worked as an assistant machinist. In 2009 he returned to Birobidzhan because of deteriorating health.

In his free time, Sergey loves to draw portraits in pencil. He also enjoys foreign languages.

In September 2023, when Sergey was already in the penal colony, where he was placed to serve his sentence, his wedding took place—he married Marina. The girl supports her husband in everything and waits for his release.

Case History

In May 2018, the city of Birobidzhan hosted a special FSB operation with the participation of 150 security officials, code-named "Judgement Day". More than 20 families of Jehovah's Witnesses have become victims of criminal prosecution, including Alam Aliyev, Valeriy Kriger, Sergey Shulyarenko, and Dmitriy Zagulin. The believers were accused of holding joint worship services, which the investigation considered to be the organization of the activities of the extremist organization and its financing. They spent more than 5 months in the pre-trial detention center. In November 2020, the case went to court. The hearings lasted more than 2 years, and in December 2022, the court sentenced Dmitriy Zagulin to 3 years and 6 months, Alam Aliyev to 6 years and 6 months, and Sergey Shulyarenko and Valeriy Kriger to 7 years in prison. The appeal confirmed the terms of Zagulin and Aliyev, and reduced those of Shulyarenko and Krieger by 3 months. The court of cassation upheld the verdict in March 2024. The wives of the three convicts were also prosecuted: Svetlana Monis, Tatyana Zagulina and Natalya Kriger. In September 2023, Sergey Shulyarenko's wedding took place in the colony.
Timeline