Oleg Shidlovskiy and Aleksey Goreliy Released After More Than 5 Years of Having Been Separated from Their Families

On November 14, 2025, two of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oleg Shidlovskiy, 56, and Aleksey Goreliy, 45, were released in the Ulyanovsk Region. They served their sentences in full, having spent almost 2.5 years in a pretrial detention center and about 3 years in a penal colony.

Before his arrest, Oleg Shidlovskiy worked for about 30 years as a physical education teacher in one of the schools in Gukovo (Rostov Region). His wife Natalya, who had previously suffered three strokes, was left alone with her teenage daughter. "At the very beginning, it was difficult... to accept being separated from my husband. Then a feeling of loneliness set in," she recalls. They had their share of difficulties around the home: "The roof was damaged, it began to rain, and the heating did not work. Problems came one after another... What would I have done without friends!"

Oleg also felt that he was not forgotten. "I want to mention the special support of those who wrote letters," Oleg said after his release. "During the 5 years, I received about 7600 letters. This was really strong encouragement. I felt that I was not alone, but part of a large loving family."

In the penal colony, Oleg worked in the sewing workshop. He complained of fluctuating blood pressure, and the medications he was given did not always help. He lost his sight in one eye. According to the ophthalmologist, he needed surgery, which could not be carried out in the penal colony. The administration treated the believer with respect because of his good conduct.

Aleksey Goreliy also was the sole breadwinner in his family; he worked as a chief accountant for a manufacturer. His arrest came as a shock to his wife, Inna. She relates: "It seemed as if the ground was collapsing beneath me." Raising their son, who joined first grade in 2020, fell entirely on her shoulders: "Our son often asked: 'When will they release dad?'" Aleksey also found it hard being separated from his family: "The most difficult thing is not seeing my only child growing up."

The men were convicted under the article on organizing the activity of an extremist organization. Their case became part of a large-scale prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in today's Russia. The rest of the defendants in the case: Nikita Moiseyev, Yevgeniy Razumov, Vladimir Popov and Aleksey Dyadkin — are due to be released in May and June 2026.