Case History
After a series of searches in Magadan in May 2018, Konstantin Petrov, Yevgeniy Zyablov and Sergey Yerkin were placed in a pretrial detention center. On the same day in Khabarovsk, the home of Ivan Puyda was searched. He was arrested and then taken 1600 km away to a pretrial detention center in Magadan. The believers spent 2 to 4 months behind bars, and then were placed under house arrest. In March 2019, the FSB conducted another series of searches. The number of defendants in the case reached 13, including 6 women, and elderly. The investigator regarded the holding of peaceful meetings for worship as organizing, participating and financing the activity of an extremist organization. In nearly 4 years of investigation, the case against 13 believers grew to 66 volumes. It went to court in March 2022. At the hearings, it became clear that the case was based on the testimony of a secret witness – an FSB informant, who secretly recorded peaceful meetings for worship. In March 2024, the believers were given suspended sentences from 3 to 7 years.