Jehovah's Witness* Alexander Parkov back at large

Alexander Parkov, a Jehovah's Witness* from Rostov-on-Don, who was sentenced to 6.5 years in penal colony, has served his sentence and been released.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 29, 2021, a court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the elderly Vilen Avanesov to six years, and Arsen Avanesov and Alexander Parkov – to 6.5 years in colony each.

All the three of them were detained on May 22, 2019, and accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization.

As reported by the human rights project "OVD-Info"**, Alexander Parkov spent five years and two months at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) and a penal colony. His wife Galina reported that in jail he worked as a blacksmith, was treated well by his cellmates and the colony staff, and that letters to Parkov were supportive for him, the portal that is covering persecutions of Jehovah's Witnesses* in Russia has added.

Earlier, this February, Vilen Avanesov was released.

*396 Russian organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses are recognized as extremist, and their activities in Russia are banned by court's decision.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.