Pensioner From Mednogorskiy Given Suspended Sentence. Earlier, Her Daughter, Also One of Jehovah's Witnesses, Was Convicted

"I am guilty not of committing a socially dangerous act but of remaining a believer," said Mariya Ogoreva, 64. On December 29, 2025, Melek Bayramkulova, judge of the Karachayevskiy District Court of the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic gave her a 2-year suspended sentence.

Mariya is a widow. She and her husband were married for 38 years and raised three children. For many years she worked as a nanny in a kindergarten. In 2023-2024, 6 months apart, criminal cases were initiated against Mariya and her daughter Svetlana, based on the suspicion of participating in the activity of an extremist organization. Before that, several searches took place in their home — first as witnesses in the Pasynkov case, and then as suspects. During one of them, Mariya needed medical help.

The hearings for the believer's case were held 80 kilometers from her home, as two judges from the local district court recused themselves. Friends supported Mariya: they came to the hearings, helped around the house, and called to encourage her. Mariya noted: "In this ordeal, we are not alone; they surrounded us with love."

On October 1, 2025, the court gave Svetlana a 3-year suspended sentence. The basis for the criminal prosecution of the Ogorevs was their religious beliefs and participation in peaceful meetings for worship. In court, Mariya emphasized that in her case there is "not a single statement of an extremist nature, not a single call to hatred or enmity, not a single quote from literature that was declared extremist."

The Ogorevs and Pasynkovs are prosecuted according to a similar pattern: first, one family member is made a suspect, and then his relatives.