A 68-year-old Jehovah’s Witness from Murmansk Oblast released from pretrial detention after custodial sentence replaced with suspended sentence

On 5 August, a court in Murmansk replaced Anatoliy Odintsov’s six-year and three-month prison sentence with a suspended sentence of the same length. The 68-year-old Jehovah’s Witness was released from pretrial detention, according to the website Jehovah’s Witnesses Legal Developments in Russia.

Anatoliy Odintsov had been held in custody since 4 May, when he was sentenced for organising the activities of an extremist organisation (Article 282.2, Part 1 of the Criminal Code). The prosecutor had sought a fine of 600,000 roubles (≈€6,085), but the court instead handed down a significantly harsher sentence.

During the investigation in 2025, Anatoliy Odintsov also spent just over two months in pretrial detention before being transferred to house arrest.

Before he was prosecuted, Anatoliy Odintsov, from Snezhnogorsk in Murmansk Oblast, worked as a medical equipment engineer.