Unjust Verdicts

For Six Lunches — 5.5 Years in a Penal Colony. One of Jehovah's Witnesses from Moscow Convicted for Financing Extremism

Moscow

On December 18, 2025, Dmitriy Neudakhin, judge of the Savelovskiy District Court, sentenced Viktor Velikov to 5.5 years imprisonment. This is not Neudakhin's first decision against Jehovah's Witnesses: over 4 years he has imposed preventive measures against believers from Moscow, as a rule, imposing strict measures.

The Velikov case is linked to the trial of Aleksandr Serebryakov. Velikovs' house was first searched in the fall of 2023 as part of his case. The charges are identical: the men are being prosecuted for providing lunches to believers at a peaceful 6-day religious event.

Viktor's home was searched for a second time in April 2025. After it, he ended up behind bars — he was separated from his wife and son. "They didn't grant us visits for 2 months," recalls Olga, the believer's wife. "The investigator constantly refused. He said that it was not his style to give permission." She adds that even behind bars her husband did not lose his positive qualities: he treats those around him with compassion and tries to take care of them.

Viktor Velikov is 50. He is from the working class — a lining operator in the production of industrial furnaces. He has been one of Jehovah's Witnesses for over 20 years.

The Savelovskiy District Court has been considering the case since July 2025. The prosecutor demanded that Viktor be sent to a penal colony for 7 years.

This is the sixteenth guilty verdict in Moscow, where 23 Jehovah's Witnesses have faced prosecution for their beliefs, 13 of them are serving sentences in penal colonies.

The Case of Velikov in Moscow

Case History
Viktor Velikov from Solnechnogorsk first faced criminal prosecution in September 2023, when his home was searched as part of the case against Aleksandr Serebryakov. In April 2025, the law enforcement officers searched his family’s home again. The believer was taken for interrogation to the Investigative Committee of the city of Moscow, after which he was placed in a temporary detention facility for 2 days. Viktor was charged with financing the activity of an extremist organization. At the same time, a search was carried out in Tver at the home of Andrey Lukin’s family. Both men were placed in a pretrial detention center. In June of the same year, Lukin’s case was made into a separate proceeding. In July, the case against Velikov went to court. In December, the court sentenced the believer to 5.5 years imprisonment.
Timeline

Persons in case

Velikov
Viktor

Criminal case

Region:
Moscow
Locality:
Moscow
Suspected of:
"collecting funds and providing financial services knowingly intended to support the activity of a religious organization" (from the ruling to separate a criminal case)
Court case number:
42402450011000106
Initiated:
August 5, 2024
Current case stage:
verdict did not take effect
Investigating:
Department for Investigating Especially Important Cases of the Investigative Directorate for the Northern Administrative District of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the city of Moscow
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation:
282.3 (1), 282.2 (2)
Court case number:
01-0578/2025
[i18n] Court of the first instance:
Savelovskiy District Court of the city of Moscow
[i18n] Judge:
Dmitriy Neudakhin
Case History
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