A Jehovah’s Witness sentenced to eight years in prison has experienced a worsening of their kidney condition.

Rustam Diarov, a Jehovah’s Witness sentenced to eight years in prison, has experienced a worsening of his chronic kidney condition while in detention. The portal ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses: Legal Situation in Russia’ reports this.

The believer has a high fever, is experiencing weakness and is unable to eat. He requires medical examinations and a special diet, which are impossible in prison conditions. The medicines prescribed by the doctor have not made any difference. Diarov has been temporarily relieved from work—he had been working in the sewing workshop.

Another defendant in this case, Yevgeny Ivanov, reported in early August that he had been denied visits with his wife for four months, and has not received letters for over a month and a half.

The verdict for Rustam Diarov, Sergey Klikunov, Yevgeny Ivanov and his wife Olga Ivanova was delivered in October 2021. The men were each sentenced to eight years in prison, and the woman to three and a half years.

Diarov, Ivanov and Klikunov were found guilty of organising the activities of an extremist organisation (part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and financing extremist activities (part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code). Olga Ivanova was convicted of participating in the activities of an extremist organisation (part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators and the court, the believers organised joint meetings, promoted their religious teachings, and distributed literature.

In April, Yevgeny Ivanov, Rustam Diarov and Sergey Klikunov were transferred to Correctional Colony No. 8 in Almetyevsk (Republic of Tatarstan, a region on the Volga River). Olga Ivanova served her sentence in Colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk (Stavropol Krai, southern Russia) but has now been released.

You can support the believers by writing a letter or through our ‘Vestochka’ letter service.

Diarov Rustam Gennadyevich, born 1973, Correctional Colony No. 8, Republic of Tatarstan, 26 Bazovaya St., Almetyevsk, Republic of Tatarstan, 423450;

Ivanov Yevgeny Borisovich, born 1976, Correctional Colony No. 8, Republic of Tatarstan, 26 Bazovaya St., Almetyevsk, Republic of Tatarstan, 423450;

Klikunov Sergey Alexandrovich, born 1975, Correctional Colony No. 8, Republic of Tatarstan, 26 Bazovaya St., Almetyevsk, Republic of Tatarstan, 423450.