Name: Vasiliyev Sergey Evgeniyevich
Date of Birth: May 21, 1951
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 273 day in a pre-trial detention, 882 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: recognizance agreement
Sentence: punishment in the form of 3 years of imprisonment with serving in a penal colony of general regime, with deprivation of the right to participate in the activities of public or religious associations, public or religious organizations for a term of 3 years, with restriction of liberty for a term of 6 months

Biography

In 2021, a criminal case was opened against Sergey Vasiliyev, a pensioner who participated in the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, only because of his belief in Jehovah God.

Sergey was born in Irkutsk in May 1951 into a family of musical theater artists. In 1955, they gave their son to be raised by their maternal grandparents. As a child, Sergey had many hobbies: fishing, hiking, collecting wild useful plants, cycling, as well as chess, skating, skiing, tennis, judo.

Immediately after school, Sergey got a job at a reinforced concrete products plant as a reinforcement worker. Upon his return from the army, where he served as a tanker, he acquired many professions: a car mechanic, a driver, an electrician, a slinger, a commodity expert of fur raw materials. He has certificates and gratitude. For the last 23 years he worked in an Irkutsk pharmacy, and in 2018 he retired.

Sergey began to study the Bible in 1993. About this time he said: “I have been looking for the meaning of life for a long time. When young and healthy, there is neither experience nor skills in work. Acquired both that, and another—there are neither forces, nor health. Nonsense. With Bible study, everything fell into place.” Having found answers to his questions, in 2002 Sergey embarked on the Christian path.

Sergey's hobbies include cycling, boating, fishing, hiking in the forest. Having lived in different regions of Russia, as well as in Latvia, Ukraine, Egypt and Thailand, he returned to his historical homeland.

None of Sergey's close relatives survived. He was married twice. The first wife died in 2008, the second did not become in 2020. Friends support the believer and consider criminal prosecution unfair.

Case History

In October 2021, a series of searches took place in Irkutsk and the Irkutsk Region, which were accompanied by assault and brutal beatings of peaceful the believers. Jehovah's Witnesses Yaroslav Kalin, Sergey Kosteyev, Nikolay Martynov, Mikhail Moysh, Aleksey Solnechny, Andrey Tolmachev, and Sergey Vasilyev were accused of extremism only for their faith. After searches and interrogations, they were detained; six of them were sent to a pretrial detention center and one was placed under house arrest. Two months later, law enforcement officers conducted two more searches: in the village of Askiz (Republic of Khakassia) in the home of Denis Sarazhakov and in the city of Mezhdurechensk (Kemerovo Region) in the home of Igor Popov. Both of them were arrested, taken more than 1500 km to Irkutsk and placed in custody. In December 2022, the case of the believers went to court. In January 2024, the court sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment in a penal colony, from 3 to 7 years, satisfying the prosecutor’s request.
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