A Kemerovo Appeals Court Upheld Andrey Vlasov's Sentence: a Seven-Year Imprisonment for His Faith in God

On July 26, 2022, a panel of judges of the Kemerovo Regional Court, chaired by Larisa Korneva, denied 53-year-old Andrey Vlasov from Prokopievsk his appeal against conviction for faith. The verdict of the lower court has entered into force.

Despite this, the believer still insists on his innocence. He has the right to appeal the verdict in the cassation procedure, as well as in international instances.

In May 2022, the judge of the Central District Court of Prokopyevsk, Pavel Kotykhov, found Andrey Vlasov guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist community and sentenced him to 7 years in prison.

Despite the fact that Andrey Vlasov has Degree II disability and cannot do much without the help of his wife, the state prosecutor requested for him 8.5 years of imprisonment. A physically disabled person had to spend two days on temporary detention and a year and 10 months under house arrest. Although he never violated the detention regime, the court repeatedly extended his preventive measure and restricted his access to medical treatment.

The criminal case against Andrey Vlasov was initiated on July 2, 2020 by Ivan Sablin, investigator with the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Kemerovo Region — Kuzbass. The investigation went on for almost a year. In June 2021, the Vlasov case was submitted to the Central District Court of the city of Prokopyevsk.

Currently, 13 Jehovah's Witnesses are being persecuted for their faith in the Kemerovo region. Three of them received suspended sentences. Sergey Britvin and Vadim Levchuk have already been released from the penal colony.