Biography
Sergey Livievich Yerkin was born in 1953 in Vladivostok. He is a technician-architect by education. Since 1975, Sergey lived in Kazakhstan, where he worked as an engineer, architect and lead designer, designed buildings. In the 1980s, he moved to the Magadan Region, where he was also employed in the construction industry. The last place of work before retirement was as an engineer for design and estimate work at one of the mining enterprises in Chukotka.
His friends and acquaintances know Sergey as a kind and sympathetic person. He cared for his elderly mother until her death in 2007.
This intelligent and humble man, who had worked all his life for the good of society, is now accused of absurd crimes incompatible with his Christian beliefs.
In connection with the existing disease, doctors prescribed a diet for Sergey. The disease aggravates his position as a prisoner.
Case History
After a series of searches in Magadan in May 2018, Konstantin Petrov, Yevgeny Zyablov and Sergey Yerkin were placed in a pre-trial detention center. On the same day in Khabarovsk, Ivan Puyda was searched. He was arrested and then taken 1600 km away to the Magadan pre-trial detention center. The believers spent two to four 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 later reached 13, including six women, including the elderly. The investigator regarded the holding of peaceful worship services as organizing the activities of an extremist organization, participating in it and financing it. In almost four 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 kept secret records of peaceful worship. In March 2024, the believers were given suspended sentences from 3 to 7 years.
