Viktor Stashevskiy

Viktor Stashevskiy

Viktor Stashevskiy

Inside Penal Colonies and Detention Centers

Viktor Stashevskiy Can Become the First Jehovah's Witness to Be Sent from Penal Colony to Prison for Fictitious Violations

Crimea

On May 2, 2024, the judge of the Apsheronskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory ruled to satisfy the colony's submission and transfer Viktor Stashevskiy from the colony to prison for 3 years.

According to the law, those who are convicted of especially dangerous crimes, such as terrorism, hostage-taking, massacres, etc. should be sent prisons. Conditions in prisons are much more difficult than in colonies: prisoners are in cramped, locked cells, often solitary confinement. If convicts in colonies live in barracks and move freely around the territory, then possibility to walk in prison is strictly limited - for example, walks take place under escort in a small courtyard, over which a grate or barbed wire is fixed. Also, in prison, convicts cannot work and study any specialty.

Stashevskiy has already been serving his sentence for his faith for the third year. He is being held in correctional colony No. 9 in the Krasnodar Territory, located in the city of Khadyzhensk. According to fabricated penalties, the believer was found to be a malicious violator of the order of serving his sentence, and he was also charged with numerous other violations. However, he did not even know about most of them. In the colony, he was kept in strict conditions and repeatedly imprisoned in a cell-type room, a kind of "internal prison".

The court's decision to transfer Stashevskiy to another correctional institution has not yet entered into force. He continues to be in the colony and intends to appeal against the illegal transfer.

The Case of Stashevskiy in Sevastopol

Case History
In May 2019, an FSB investigator opened a criminal case against Viktor Stashevskiy for organizing the activity of an extremist organization. He was accused of “promoting the ideas of Jehovah’s Witnesses, holding meetings, and carrying out religious performances.” The case involved the testimony of a secret witness. After eight months of court proceedings, the hearings began anew in connection with the resignation of the judge. In March 2021, the court sentenced Stashevskiy to 6.5 years in a general regime colony. The appeal upheld this verdict. Since September 2021, the believer has been in Penal Colony No. 9 of the Krasnodar Territory. There, Stashevskiy was accused of malicious violation of the order due to numerous penalties, most of which he did not even know about. In May 2024, the court ruled to change the type of correctional institution for the believer to prison for the rest of his term (a period of three years), and in June the appeal approved this decision. In September 2024, Viktor Stashevskiy was transferred from the colony to a prison known as Vladimirskiy Central.
Timeline

Persons in case

Stashevskiy
Viktor

Criminal case

Region:
Crimea
Locality:
Sevastopol
Suspected of:
According to the investigation he continued the activities and propagandized Jehovah’s Witnesses’ ideas, conducted meetings and carried out religious speeches
Court case number:
11907350001670005
Initiated:
May 31, 2019
Current case stage:
the verdict entered into force
Investigating:
Investigation Office of Russian Federal Security Office for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.2 (1)
Court case number:
1-23/2021 (1-165/2020)
Court:
Гагаринский районный суд г. Севастополя
Judge:
Павел Крылло
Case History
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