At the end of June, Artem Gerasimov, a resident of Crimea and a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, was released after serving his sentence in Russian captivity.

“I will never betray my faith… Now that I have felt the support of Jehovah and my fellow believers, I am even more determined to stick to my convictions. I know that every new trial will make me even stronger, ” said Gerasimov after his release.

Russian security forces detained Artem Gerasimov in 2019 following a search of his apartment. At the same time, the occupying authorities initiated criminal proceedings against him, accusing him of “organizing the activities of an extremist organization” due to his participation in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Russia banned the organization in 2017 and following the occupation of Ukrainian territories, unlawfully extended its jurisdiction over them.

 The occupying authorities fined Artem Gerasimov 400,000 rubles due to his religious beliefs, however, he contested the “court” ruling and filed an appeal. As a result, on June 4, 2020, an occupying “court” in Crimea replaced the fine with a six-year prison sentence.

In late June, in addition to Gerasimov, other members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses also completed their sentences: Oleksiy Dyadkin, who was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in 2022, and Maksym Zinchenko, who received a two-year forced labor sentence from an occupying “court” in Sevastopol in 2024. Yevhen Zhukov was also released on June 9, having served his sentence in a Russian prison.