A pensioner from Karachay-Cherkessia has denied charges of extremism.

A court in Karachayevsk sentenced Maria Ogoreva to a suspended sentence, deeming her presence at Jehovah's Witnesses* services to constitute participation in an extremist organization. The pensioner denied the charges in court.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in August 2024, security forces searched the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses* Maria Ogoreva and her daughter, Svetlana Ogoreva. In October 2025, the Zelenchuksky District Court sentenced 41-year-old Svetlana Ogoreva to a three-year suspended sentence, deeming her presence at services and discussions of faith to constitute participation in an extremist organization. The criminal investigation into her mother, Maria Ogoreva, was still ongoing.

The Karachayevsky District Court sentenced 64-year-old pensioner Maria Ogoreva to a two-year suspended prison sentence, a website covering the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses* in Russia reported on December 30.

I am guilty of remaining a believer.

The hearings were held in Karachayevsk, 80 kilometers from the pensioner's home, as two judges from the local district court The court recused itself. Maria Ogoreva denied the charges. "I'm guilty not of committing a socially dangerous act, but of remaining a religious person," she stated.

During the investigation, the woman was under travel restrictions. "She continued to study and promote the benefits of following the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses [...] maintained contacts with individuals professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses... for the purpose of participating in religious services and studying the Holy Scriptures (the Bible)," the publication quotes from the decision to initiate criminal proceedings.

According to the case file on the Karachayevsky District Court website, the case was received by this court on March 19, 2025. From April to November, the hearing was postponed 14 times for various reasons, including three times due to the defendant's illness. The verdict was handed down on December 29 at the only hearing that was not postponed.

As a reminder, in August 2024, security forces in Karachay-Cherkessia conducted searches not only of Maria Ogoreva and her daughter, but also of Jehovah's Witness* Tatyana Pasynkova. Searches were also conducted at Alexey Pasynkov (Tatyana Pasynkova's son) and his wife Yulia. The reason for the persecution was the believers' participation in collective worship services.

In September 2025, the court sentenced Yulia Pasynkova to five years' probation on charges of participating in an extremist organization. In January, her husband, Alexey Pasynkov, received a suspended sentence of six years. Tatyana Pasynkova was charged with a similar offense. In October, the Khabezsky District Court sentenced 60-year-old Pensioner Tatyana Pasynkova was given a suspended sentence of four years' imprisonment.

Back in October 2021, the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Russia ruled that individual or joint religious practice, religious rites, and ceremonies in themselves should not be considered the activity of an extremist organization unless they contain elements of extremism. However, in practice, state prosecutors ignore this decision.

Earlier, in October 2020, a court in Kabardino-Balkaria acquitted local Jehovah's Witness* Yuri Zalipaev, who was accused of inciting extremism. In September 2021, the court awarded him 500,000 rubles in compensation, and the prosecutor apologized to the believer for the criminal Persecution. Acquittals for Jehovah's Witnesses* are rare in the Russian judicial system, Yaroslav Sivulsky, a representative of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, commented on the court's decision at the time.

On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia, following a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice, declared the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia* and its 395 branches extremist organizations, banning their activities. The "Caucasian Knot" covers the consequences of this ban on its thematic page "Ministry of Justice against Jehovah's Witnesses*".

* 396 Russian Jehovah's Witness organizations have been recognized as extremist, and their activities in Russia are banned by court order.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.