Appeals court increases sentences for two Jehovah’s Witnesses from Omsk

On 6 August, Judge Elena Shtokalenko of the Omsk Regional Court heard the appeal against the sentences imposed on Leonid Pyzhov and Sergei Rygayev and increased their sentences, replacing three and a half years and three years of compulsory labour at a correctional centre, respectively, with six years each in a general-regime penal colony. Both men were taken into custody. The ruling was reported by the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis.

Criminal proceedings against Leonid Pyzhov and Sergei Rygayev on charges of organising extremist activity were initiated in March 2024. They were accused of organising meetings at which biblical literature was discussed. Following searches during which the believers were beaten, they were remanded in custody, then released under house arrest six months later, and placed under restrictions on certain activities a further six months later.

Leonid Pyzhov and Sergei Rygayev did not admit guilt.

In April 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia declared the Administrative Centre of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia an extremist organisation and ordered its dissolution. In August of the same year, all Jehovah’s Witness congregations were added to the list of banned extremist organisations.

We consider Leonid Pyzhov, Sergei Rygayev and other imprisoned Jehovah’s Witnesses to be political prisoners.