The appeal upheld the sentence against the believer from Krasnodar Krai.

The Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the decision of the Soviet District Court regarding believer Anatoly Yevtushenko, who was sentenced to two years for participating in an extremist organization.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", at the end of December 2025, the Soviet District Court of Krasnodar sentenced Anatoly Yevtushenko to two years in a penal colony, considering him a participant in a cell of an extremist organization. During the court session, Yevtushenko did not admit his guilt and did not renounce his beliefs.

According to the court, the defendant Anatoly Yevtushenko, despite the fact that the religious organization "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and the local religious organizations within its structure were recognized as extremist by the Supreme Court of Russia and their activities were liquidated, participated in conducting collective religious events - services via video conferences, the United Press Service of the Krasnodar Krai courts reported today on their Telegram channel.

In December 2025, Yevtushenko was found guilty by the Soviet District Court of Krasnodar of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. The court sentenced him to two years in a general regime penal colony, with a one-year ban on engaging in activities related to the organization and participation in public associations. However, the defendant appealed the verdict.

The judicial panel for criminal cases of the Krasnodar Regional Court, having reviewed the case materials on appeal, found no grounds for changing the verdict. The verdict has entered into legal force. "Yevtushenko did not admit his guilt and did not renounce his beliefs," the message from the united press service states.

As early as October 2021, the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Russia ruled that individual or joint confession of religion, religious rites, and ceremonies should not be considered activities of an extremist organization if they do not contain signs of extremism. However, in practice, prosecutors ignore this decision, noted Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Earlier, in October 2020, a court in Kabardino-Balkaria acquitted local Jehovah's Witness Yuri Zalipayev, who was accused of inciting extremism. In September 2021, the court awarded him 500,000 rubles in compensation, and the prosecutor apologized to the believer for the criminal prosecution. Acquittals for Jehovah's Witnesses are a rare occurrence in the Russian judicial system, commented Yaroslav Sivulsky on the court's decision at that time.

On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, recognized the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and 395 of its branches as extremist organizations, prohibiting their activities. The consequences of this ban are covered by "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Ministry of Justice against Jehovah's Witnesses".

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in mid-December, the court sentenced residents of the Kuban village Viktor Spirichev and Sergey Dvurechensky to conditional terms, considering them participants in an extremist organization. Both Jehovah's Witnesses rejected the accusation.

* 396 Russian organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses have been recognized as extremist, and their activities are banned in Russia by court decision.

** The activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.