Kobeleva Galina

Updated: April 18, 2024
Name: Kobeleva Galina Alekseyevna
Date of Birth: February 25, 1956
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Current restrictions: Suspended sentence
Sentence: punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 6 years with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to leadership in the work of public religious associations and organizations for a period of 3 years, with restriction of liberty for a term of 1 year, the main punishment in the form of imprisonment shall be considered suspended with a probationary period of 5 years 1 month

Biography

Persecution of believers continues in the Primorsky Territory. Young and elderly residents of the region are targeted by law enforcement officers. Among them are 64-year-old Galina Kubeleva and her son Sergey. They are included in the list of extremists of Rosfinmonitoring only for their participation in peaceful services and talking about the Bible.

Galina was born in February 1956 in the village of Verkhniye Mully, Perm Territory, in the family of a carpenter. She has a younger sister. The parents are no longer alive.

At the age of 11, Galina and her parents moved to the village of Kurskoye in the Primorsky Territory. She graduated from college with a degree in salesman, then studied as a commodity specialist at the Far Eastern Institute of Soviet Trade. After getting married, she moved to the city of Lesozavodsk. The family had two children - Sergey and Julia. After a while, the couple divorced.

Galina worked as a store manager, commercial director, chief accountant, specialist of the 1st category in the Office of the Federal Treasury. She is now retired. Galina loves to work in the garden, grow vegetables and berries.

In the late 90s, Galina got acquainted with the Bible and became convinced of the existence of God. Her faith was strengthened by fulfilling Bible prophecies and God's answers to her prayers. Later, her children also became Jehovah's Witnesses.

The persecution for her faith unsettled Galina, disturbed her calmness and her usual way of life. The stress was added to the worries about the son and his family.

Case History

In May 2020, in Lesozavodsk, officers of the Investigative Committee and the FSB conducted searches in 4 dwellings of believers, including Galina Kobeleva. Law enforcement officers opened a criminal case against Yevgeniy Grinenko. Soon Galina and her son Sergey became his defendants. The woman was included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring. The accusation was based on the testimony of an embedded FSB agent Vladislav Mrachko, who communicated with Kobeleva, pretending to be interested in the Bible. In March 2021, the case of the believer was separated into separate proceedings in connection with her serious illness, and 7 months later it went to court. Despite the fact that the testimonies of 20 witnesses did not confirm the charges, and the examination was biased, in October 2022, the court found Galina guilty and sentenced her to 6 years of probation, which is exactly the punishment the prosecutor requested. The appellate court upheld the verdict.
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