"They’re not Judging Me, but My Faith." Jehovah’s Witness Fined for His Beliefs

On January 23, 2026, Valeriy Minsafin, 54, a resident of Kurgan, was found guilty of participating in the activity of an extremist organization and fined 400,000 rubles. The verdict was handed down by Judge Sergey Lushnikov of the Kurgan City Court.

Valeriy is a construction worker who recently has worked "between interrogations and court hearings." The Minsafin family is close-knit: Valeriy and his wife Galina have been married for 29 years; they have two adult children and a grandson. The prosecution has taken a toll on the health of the couple and their loved ones. In the midst of all this, Minsafin's elderly mother suffered a heart attack.

In July 2021, Valeriy's home was searched. He was charged with organizing the activity of an extremist organization. However, those charges were dropped in March 2023. A new criminal case was initiated against Minsafin 2 years later — this time for participating in the activity of an extremist organization — and he was once again added to the Rosfinmonitoring list.

"It so happened that I had already demolished an extension to our house and started building a new one when the investigator called to summon me for interrogation and told me the case had been reopened. Such news... I had to work frantically because I didn't know how it would all end — and you can't leave your family without a roof over their head," Valeriy recalled. "And that's when friends came to the rescue! It felt like a weight off my shoulders." Friends do not leave the believer without support: "Some regularly bake bread for us; others travel 200 kilometers to help around the house and to attend court hearings with us."

Minsafin is convinced that he was convicted solely for his religious beliefs. "I realized that it's not me who is being judged, but my faith in Jehovah — and I want to defend it," he said. The case was based on covert audio recordings of meetings for worship. The judge refused to listen to them in court, thereby depriving the defense of the opportunity to challenge the prosecution's arguments. At the same time, a psycho-linguistic expert study of the recordings found no statements inciting hatred or violence.

As of the time of publication, a total of 10 Jehovah's Witnesses have faced criminal prosecution in the Kurgan Region. One of them, Aleksandr Lubin, a man with a serious disability, died shortly after receiving a guilty verdict.