Aleksey Budenchuk Released From Prison. He Is the Third Resident of Saratov to Serve a Sentence for Believing in God Jehovah

On July 6, 2021, one of Jehovah's Witnesses, convicted for his beliefs, Aleksey Budenchuk, having served his full sentence, left penal colony No. 1 in the city of Orenburg. His family and friends traveled 800 kilometers to meet beloved husband, father and friend.

On September 19, 2019, a judge of the Leninsky District Court of Saratov sentenced Aleksey Budenchuk and five other believers to imprisonment for a term of 2.5 to 3.5 years for peaceful religious services. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision. During the criminal prosecution, the believer spent more than 11 months in a pre-trial detention center, 4 months under the ban on certain actions, and 17 months in a colony. Upon arrival at the colony, Aleksey and other believers were beaten. Then he was sent to a punishment cell on false charges of smoking in the wrong place. However, Jehovah's Witnesses do not smoke for religious reasons.

In the colony, the believer had to work in a sewing workshop, despite problems with the spine, in which hours of sitting and standing are contraindicated. Because of stress and hard living conditions, Aleksey's chronic diseases worsened. At the end of 2020, the believer fell ill with presumably COVID-19. According to Tatyana, Aleksey's wife, the prison doctors did not even try to establish an accurate diagnosis. Aleksey was treated with the medicines that were in the medical unit and at the hands of the prisoners. As a result, he developed a number of complications that did not go away until he was released from the colony. “Now his pulse for no apparent reason reaches 100 beats per minute, and blood pressure jumps to 170,” says Tatyana Budenchuk. On top of that, about six months ago, the Bible was taken away from Alexey.

During the last months in the colony, Aleksey received the specialty of an electrician and was awarded a diploma for success in his studies.

As Tatiana said, during the entire time of Alexey's imprisonment in the colony, they meet only three times and it was short-term. The last time was in September 2020. For a long time, two schoolchildren actually lost their father, and his wife, with which Aleksey has been married for 17 years, of support.

The Budenchuk family has a household and a small private house, which completely burned down shortly before the transfer of the believer to the colony. Tatyana and her children were not hurt. Friends and fellow believers helped build a new modest home for the family. The searches and the subsequent criminal prosecution of Aleksey Budenchuk had such an impact on the health of Aleksey's children that his son even needed medical attention.

According to Tatyana, in recent years, the family has also felt support from those who do not share their religious beliefs. She says: “People are mostly sympathetic and do not understand the reasons for the prosecution. Words of support were expressed by teachers at school and classmates of children. Even some representatives of local authorities actively helped to obtain various characteristics and other papers for Aleksey. "

Aleksey Budenchuk became the third Jehovah's Witness from Saratov to fully serve his sentence under an “extremist” article after the decision of the Supreme Court in April 2017. Three more defendants in the same criminal case are still in the colony and await release. In November 2018, lawyers for prisoners of conscience in Saratov filed complaints with the European Court of Human Rights. The European Union demanded that the Russian authorities stop bullying Jehovah's Witnesses, mentioning six Saratov residents.