A Jehovah’s Witness from Chuvashia has been given a six-year suspended sentence.

On 30 May, the Novocheboksarsk City Court handed Jehovah’s Witness Alexander Protasov a six-year suspended sentence. This was reported by a portal covering the prosecution of believers.

He was found guilty under the article on organising the activities of an extremist organisation (Part 1, Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code).

Protasov had been a witness in the case against fellow believer Yuri Yuskov, who was handed a five-year suspended sentence in March 2024.

In October 2023, a criminal case was launched against Protasov himself. According to investigators, he “carried out active actions, expressed in holding… meetings attended by no fewer than 20 people who are followers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group.” In April 2025, the case was brought to court.

He is currently under a travel ban.

Yuri Yuskov, who is now 87, has been subjected to searches twice—in 2020 and in 2023. The second time, investigators also searched the home of Alexander Protasov.