Resident of Birobidzhan Given a 2.5-year Suspended Sentence. The 27th Conviction of One of Jehovah's Witnesses by Local Court

On November 14, 2025, the court gave Igor Prityko, 55, a suspended sentence, recognizing him as a participant in the activity of an extremist organization. The believer pleaded not guilty and called the prosecution an expression of "intolerance toward religious beliefs."

"The nature of my work requires that I communicate a lot with people, and I try to focus on the positive traits of a person. This helped me... gain a reputation as a reliable partner and a person easy to talk to," testified Prityko, who has changed professions in the field of construction several times throughout his life. "Helping people find hope in the wonderful future promised by God, I became the happiest person. All this, Your Honor, is my contribution to maintaining peace in society," he added, highlighting that his way of life is incompatible with extremism.

Birobidzhan is one of the Russian cities with the largest number of criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses: at the time of publication of this article, there were 24 cases (initiated against 28 people). Four believers were sent to a penal colony, and 21 people given suspended sentences. When court hearings against Jehovah's Witnesses first started in his city, Igor attended them. "After the decision [to liquidate the legal entities] I made it my goal to attend court hearings to encourage my brothers and sisters in the faith and to see the joy on their faces when the verdicts were announced," he recalls. In time his family also faced prosecution: in the winter of 2024 law enforcement officers conducted the first search at Prityko's home, and the year after, following another raid, D. Emelyanenko, investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, initiated a criminal case against the believer. Soon the trial began in the Birobidzhan District Court, led by Judge Svetlana Zemtsova.

Igor grew up in a large family and, being the eldest, was used to taking care of his loved ones from childhood, but with the beginning of the investigation it became more difficult for him to do so. "I only work a little, and the entire financial burden fell on the shoulders of my wife," the believer explained the situation and added: "Although our active life was slowed down by various restrictions and it became difficult to provide for the family, we lacked nothing. Hardship has brought us closer. There is less fuss and more time for the family."