Name: Yershov Ilya Vladimirovich
Date of Birth: December 26, 1986
Current status: suspect
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility

Biography

Search, detention, interrogation, temporary detention center, accusation of extremism, subsequent dismissal from work — what Ilya Yershov had to face in the summer of 2021. The reason for his oppression was his faith in Jehovah God.

Ilya was born in December 1986 in Shadrinsk. His mother worked as a primary school teacher, his father was a truck driver. The family has three children, Ilya has two sisters. During his school years, he played volleyball and dancing, read a lot.

After school, Ilya graduated from the Polytechnic College, graduated as a civil engineer and worked by profession for 8 years. For the past few years, he has been the Deputy Head of Administration for the Outpatient Dialysis Center. After the search and detention, he was asked to resign.

In 2011, Ilya married Yelizaveta, who shared his views on life. She works as a technician at an online school, doing handicrafts in her spare time. The spouses love to go out, spend time with friends, play board games.

Ilya grew up in a religious family. Mom tried to instill in him moral values, and in his teenage years he began to study the Bible. “All questions were given clear answers from the Bible, there was no fog and omissions,” the believer shares. In 2002, he became a Jehovah's Witness.

The criminal prosecution seriously affected the life of the Yershovs. “It was anxious to be at home. With any knock on the door or window, it seems that the search could be repeated again,” says Ilya. The couple try not to lose heart. Friends and family support Ilya and Yelizaveta during this difficult time for them.

Case History

In July 2021, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Ilya Yershov and Aleksandr Lubin. A few days later, law enforcement officers searched the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kurgan and Shadrinsk, after which Yershov was sent to a temporary detention facility for 2 days. In March 2023, the investigator stopped the prosecution on charges of organizing the activities of an extremist organization and separated the materials against Ilya into a separate proceeding. A new criminal case against the believer was initiated in September 2023 on charges of participating in the activities of an extremist organization.