Court in Kirsanov Gave 32-Year-Old Jehovah's Witness 6.5- Year Suspended Sentence for His Faith

On May 27, 2025, the Kirsanovskiy District Court found Anton Kuzhelkov guilty of extremism for holding meetings for worship and preaching. "Who is being judged — me or the God in whom I believe?" he asked at one of the hearings, pointing out that on the 31st page of the charge, his name is mentioned only once, and the name of God — 168 times.

In December 2020, Kuzhelkov's house was searched. "They came to our home with weapons... To us, peaceful, calm, quiet people who pose no harm to anyone," recalls Anton during his final statement. "Why?Apparently, they thought that we would put up some resistance... But that didn't happen. Why? Jesus' disciples don't act like this."

For 4.5 years of preliminary and judicial investigation, Kuzhelkov spent about 15 months in a pretrial detention center. The arrest of the believer occurred during Covid. "To get a visit," says Alena, Anton's wife, "I had to have an expensive test confirming that I did not have Covid, stand in line, and after the documents were accepted, wait 5 hours." Later, Anton was transferred to a more remote detention center, and a long distance was added to the already difficult procedure.

Anton does not agree with the guilty verdict; he insists that peaceful religious activity cannot be considered a crime. The defense drew attention to violations during the expert studies, which formed the basis of the verdict. Witness testimonies in court indicated that Kuzhelkov had no extremist motives. One of them said of the believer: "I was touched by his determination not to take up arms and his desire to serve in another legal way — in a nursing home, where he cared for the elderly. Not every young person is capable of this."

The prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Tambov Region is not easing. In February 2025, another criminal case was initiated in Tambov against Andrey Mikhailov, 41. At the same time, court proceedings against Nikolai Prokhorov (he was the second defendant in the Kuzhelkov case) were suspended in February 2025 due to his cancer.