A Russian court sentenced two Jehovah’s Witnesses to six-year prison terms on charges of organizing the activities of an extremist organization, according to a statement from the group.
Sergey Barsukov, 63, and Alik Yeliseyev, 35, were sentenced Monday. Prosecutors relied in part on testimony from a witness identified only as “Panchenko,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses said. Homes belonging to both men were raided in early 2025, and trials began in January 2026. Both denied the charges.
Church spokesperson Jarrod Lopes said Barsukov had been caring for his wife and elderly mother, and Yeliseyev for his wife and 10-year-old son, prior to their detention.
In court, Yeliseyev argued that the 2017 liquidation of Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations in Russia did not require individual adherents to stop practicing their faith. “Jehovah’s Witnesses were not obliged to renounce their personal faith after 2017, and I’m not required to stop reading and discussing the Bible,” he said, according to the church’s statement.
Russia’s Supreme Court ruled in 2017 to liquidate the national administrative center and 395 local organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Russian officials told the U.N. Human Rights Committee at the time that the decision did not restrict the right to freedom of religion, and that individuals could practice their beliefs independently as long as they did not distribute extremist materials or engage in illegal activity.
The Plenum of the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that religious services and ceremonies held by Jehovah’s Witnesses are not themselves criminal offenses, according to materials published on the Jehovah’s Witnesses Russia website.
The church reports that more than 180 Jehovah’s Witnesses are currently imprisoned in Russia, and more than 530 have been detained at some point since 2017. It also states that about 2,350 residences have been raided, more than 950 people have faced criminal charges, and nearly 600 have been placed on a federal list of extremists and terrorists.
The church says it has documented more than 70 cases of torture or violence against adherents over the past eight years, including eight in 2025. It also reports that at least 12 convicted members had their Russian citizenship annulled and were deported in 2025.
In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia’s ban on the organization was unlawful. U.N. human rights bodies have also addressed allegations of arbitrary detention involving Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
The Slavgorod City Court in the Altai Territory did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller.
Russia has not publicly commented on the specific allegations of torture and the use of undercover agents in these cases.