"Freedom is not Where You Are, But Truth Within." Court in Crimea Imposed Suspended Sentence on 70-Year-Old Believer

On October 17, 2025, the Rozdolnenskiy Court announced its decision: Judge Mariya Bedritskaya gave Tamara Brattseva a suspended sentence of 6 years and 3 months. The investigation claimed that the believer was an organizer of the activity of an extremist organization.

A few months earlier, the prosecutor had requested that Brattseva be sent to a penal colony for 6 years and 4 months. Tamara's lawyer commented on this during her closing arguments: "The fact that the prosecution is asking for such a cruel punishment — imprisonment for a person whose only 'guilt' is that she prayed, read the Bible and sought to live according to her conscience — is not just a legal error. This is a moral failure." After the closing arguments, the court continued its consideration, however, the prosecutor did not change his position — he requested the same punishment for a second time.

Tamara Brattseva has been living in Rozdolne, a village with a population of about 7,000 people, for more than 40 years, almost 35 of which she worked as an health and safety officer in a local cooperative. "If I were engaged in extremism, I could not remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses, since I would no longer meet the requirements of the Bible," Tamara said in court. She stressed that she was a believer long before the legal entity of Jehovah's Witnesses appeared in the village, and continues to practice her faith regardless of its existence.

During one of the court hearings, Tamara's husband of 50 years, had an accident while going to get some medication. In the hospital, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and a hematoma. The news shocked the defendant; her blood pressure rose significantly during the hearings and she had to take medication right in the court room. Eyewitnesses thought, that she was about to lose consciousness.

Tamara considers herself innocent. "Real freedom is not where you are, but the truth you have within," Tamara Brattseva said at one of the hearings, commenting on the threat of imprisonment.

The prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Crimea continues. In this territory, criminal cases have been initiated against 33 believers.