Two 74-year-old Jehovah's Witnesses, Valeriy Knyaze and Indus Talipov, were sentenced to three years in prison after June searches in Izhevsk. The church says the convictions rested on remote testimony from an informant known as 'Lozhkin', alleged to be linked to the FSB. The arrests are part of a wider crackdown that began after Russia's 2017 Supreme Court ruling criminalising Jehovah's Witness activity, a decision later found unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2022. The church reports 175 members are currently jailed in Russia and Crimea, including 19 over age 65.
Two 74-Year-Old Jehovah's Witnesses Sentenced to Three Years in Russia Amid Wider Crackdown
Two 74-year-old Jehovah's Witnesses, Valeriy Knyaze and Indus Talipov, were sentenced to three years in prison after June searches in Izhevsk. The church says the convictions rested on remote testimony from an informant known as 'Lozhkin', alleged to be linked to the FSB. The arrests are part of a wider crackdown that began after Russia's 2017 Supreme Court ruling criminalising Jehovah's Witness activity, a decision later found unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2022. The church reports 175 members are currently jailed in Russia and Crimea, including 19 over age 65.
09:32 AM, 11/14/2025Conflict
Two elderly Jehovah's Witnesses given three-year prison terms
Russia this week sentenced two 74-year-old men, Valeriy Knyaze and Indus Talipov, to three years in prison for practising their faith, the Jehovah's Witnesses' organisation said. The church confirmed the convictions on Thursday and described the men as the oldest members of the denomination currently behind bars amid an ongoing Kremlin crackdown.
According to a statement from Jarrod Lopes, regional director of communications for Jehovah's Witnesses, the men were sentenced on Wednesday following investigations in Izhevsk, a city in western Russia. Homes belonging to at least three families were searched on June 4, 2024, and Knyaze, Talipov and another local member, Alexander Stefanidin, were charged with organising extremist activity after holding worship meetings and reading scripture online.
"It's patently absurd that Russian judges would imprison peace-loving elderly Christians like Valeriy and Indus," Lopes said, adding that the convictions relied on remote testimony from an individual using the pseudonym 'Lozhkin', whom the church describes as an informant for the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The Jehovah's Witnesses allege that 'Lozhkin' and other undercover agents have posed as interested Bible students, attended worship discussions for months or years, secretly recorded meetings and provided deceptive testimony to secure convictions. Russian authorities have not publicly corroborated those specific claims in the church's statement.
These sentences occur against the backdrop of a broader legal crackdown: in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia declared all activity by Jehovah's Witnesses to be extremist. That ruling has been widely condemned by human rights groups and was later found unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2022.
Talipov, who converted to Christianity in 2009, told the court he has tried to live in accordance with both Russian law and the teachings of his faith. "I have lived my whole life — and still live — as a law-abiding person," he said, adding that accusations of organising extremist activity contradict his beliefs and the Bible's teachings.
According to the church, there are currently 175 Jehovah's Witnesses jailed across Russia and Crimea, including 19 people over the age of 65. The case has drawn renewed attention to concerns about religious freedom and the use of intelligence informants in prosecutions.
Context
This report is based on a statement from Jehovah's Witnesses and publicly known court and human rights developments; independent verification of all details by state authorities was not available at the time of publication.