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The Investigative Committee for Kurgan Region has handed over a criminal case to the Shadrinsk District Court against a 45-year-old Jehovah’s Witness, who is being prosecuted under the article on participation in the activities of an extremist organisation (part 2, article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). The announcement was highlighted by the SOVA research centre.
According to law enforcement, from 2017 to 2021, the defendant “personally participated in holding meetings and gatherings of followers of the faith, including via videoconferencing, and also engaged with local residents to promote the activities of the said extremist organisation.”
The centre’s experts believe the case concerns Igor Suslov, against whom proceedings were initiated on 23 June 2025.
When Suslov learned about the criminal case in mid-July, he travelled on his own to Kurgan—a city in the Urals—for questioning, coming from Altai Krai in Siberia, where he lives with his family. He travelled more than 1,700 kilometres. That same day, he was formally charged. He was placed under a travel restriction order as a preventive measure.
In June 2021, in Kurgan Region, law enforcement carried out mass searches of local Jehovah’s Witnesses. Investigative actions were carried out against more than 30 people that day, with 13 of them detained. At that time, it was alleged that believers were holding meetings involving over 130 people.
That same day, law enforcement officers also came to see Suslov. He was questioned as a witness in the case against Aleksandr Lubin, who was accused of organising the activities of a community of believers in the city. In October 2024, the believer was sentenced to a fine of 500,000 roubles (about US$5,500). During the investigation, he was held in pretrial detention for almost a month, despite having a second-degree disability. In November, the believer died in intensive care, where he was admitted shortly after the verdict.