Name: Korolev Aleksandr Yevgeniyevich
Date of Birth: September 20, 1978
Current status: who has served the main sentence
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2)
Time spent in prison: 144 day in a pre-trial detention, 515 day in prison
Current restrictions: restriction of freedom
Sentence: punishment in the form of 2 years of imprisonment in a penal colony of general regime, with restriction of liberty for 6 months

Biography

A civilian resident of Saransk, Aleksandr Korolev, spent almost 2 years in a penal colony for his beliefs. The court considered the discussion of the Bible among friends to be participation in the activities of an extremist organization.

Aleksandr was born in 1978 in the Zemetchinsky district of the Penza region. He has two sisters. The children grew up without a father. As a child, Aleksandr was fond of fishing and played football.

After school, Aleksandr received the profession of a tractor driver of a wide profile. He worked on a collective farm as a shepherd, livestock breeder and gas boiler operator. Before his arrest, he worked as a carpenter-fitter of wooden products.

For some time, Aleksandr lived in the village of Akim-Sergeevka (Mordovia), then moved to Saransk. He still loves fishing, board games, enjoys working with his wife in the country.

Having once learned the biblical doctrine of eternal life, Aleksandr realized that he had found the answer to a question that had worried him for many years. He marvels at how logically the Bible explains vital issues. In June 1998, he became one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Aleksandr met his future wife Nataliya in Saransk. She raised her son alone. They got married in 2006. Nataliya loves sewing, playing board games and chatting with friends. She was impressed by the wisdom of the Bible's parenting advice, so she loved this book too.

The criminal prosecution brought anxiety and worry into the lives of the Korolevs. The parents of Aleksandr and Nataliya always tried to support them. In July 2024, Aleksandr was released from the penal colony.

Case History

In February 2019, in Saransk, the FSB initiated a criminal case against three believers on suspicion of extremism. After mass searches, Vladimir Atryakhin, father of two young children, as well as Aleksandr Shevchuk and Georgiy Nikulin ended up in a pretrial detention center, where they spent between 2 and 5 months. Later, three more defendants appeared in the case — Aleksandr Korolev, Elena Nikulina and Denis Antonov. The case went to court in May 2021. The defense managed to show the court several times that the unveiled secret witness, Vlasov, was giving false testimony. In August 2022, the believers were convicted: Vladimir Atryakhin was sentenced to 6 years, Georgiy and Yelena Nikulin — 4 years and 2 months, and Aleksandr Shevchuk, Aleksandr Korolev and Denis Antonov — 2 years in a penal colony. The court of appeal upheld the verdict. In November 2023, Shevchuk was released from the penal colony, and in June 2024, Korolev and Antonov were released.
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