Updated: March 28, 2024
Name: Pryanikova Anastasiya Olegovna
Date of Birth: March 5, 1987
Current status: Defendant
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2), 282.2 (1.1)

Biography

On May 19, 2020 in the city of Karpinsk, Sverdlovsk region, a criminal case was opened against three more local residents on charges of extremism. One of them is Anastasia Pryanikova.

Anastasia was born in 1987 in Kemerovo. She grew up with her older brother. Her mother brought them up alone. Nastia studied at a music school, sang folk songs and attended an art club. After the 11th grade she entered a sewing school and finished it with a red diploma.

In 2011, Anastasia married Aleksandr. Soon they moved to the city of Tarko-Sale, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. A year and a half later, she moved to the city of Karpinsk in the Sverdlovsk region. At the moment, the spouses live in the neighbouring town of Volchansk.

When Nastia was 10 years old, her mother started studying the Bible. The girl was touched by the promises of a peaceful future for humanity recorded in this book. Later, when she became a teenager, she was able to appreciate the wisdom and practicality of biblical advice. Their application helped to avoid the mistakes of her peers.

Now Anastasia is studying at a hairdresser and a driving school.

Her favorite activities are growing vegetables, making cards for friends, sewing and embroidery with her own hands. Anastasia is also fond of making costume jewellery from polymer clay.

In 2018, the first criminal case was initiated against Anastasia's husband, Aleksandr, on charges of extremism. The ensuing search, the trial and the court verdic concerning her husband caused Anastasia a lot of stress. She fell ill with panic attacks and had to take medication. In February 2020, investigators opened one more case gegen Alexander against Aleksandr. And in May, Anastasia herself was also under investigation.

Nastia's friends and relatives are outraged by the fact that ordinary decent citizens are prosecuted.

Case History

In February 2020, even before the completion of the hearings in the first case against Aleksandr Pryanikov, Venera and Daria Dulov, the Investigative Committee initiated another one: they were accused of organizing, participating and involving in the activities of an extremist organization. Also involved in the case are Anastasia Pryanikova, Alexandr’s wife, Svetlana Zalyaeva, and her husband Ruslan, who is not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. For the fact that the Zalyaevs, inviting Pryanikov to visit, discussed evangelical values with their children, the three of them were also accused of “involving minors in a criminal group.” The case went to court in April 2021. In August 2023, the judge returned the case to the prosecutor due to irregularities in the indictment. In October, the appeal upheld this decision.