10:01, 19 April 2026

A Jehovah's Witness* from Kuban has been released from prison.

Lyudmila Shchekoldina's family greets her after leaving the prison colony. A still from a video from a website covering the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia (396 Russian Jehovah's Witness organizations have been designated as extremist, and their activities in Russia are banned by court order).

Lyudmila Shchekoldina, a resident of the village of Pavlovskaya, has been released from prison after spending nearly four years in prison on charges of extremism.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in May 2022, a court sentenced Lyudmila Shchekoldina from the village of Pavlovskaya to four years in prison, finding her guilty of involvement in an extremist organization and recruiting believers into its ranks. Shchekoldina appealed the verdict, arguing that the trial court failed to explain why the peaceful expression of faith in God was considered a crime, when freedom of religion is enshrined in the Constitution. However, the appellate and cassation courts upheld the verdict.

The woman's charges were based on a statement from a security services official, who claimed the believer had attempted to recruit her. This man had secretly recorded conversations with local Jehovah's Witnesses* about the Bible and faith. During the persecution, Shchekoldina's health worsened; she requires surgery, human rights activists reported.

49-year-old Lyudmila Shchekoldina was released from a penal colony in the Volgograd region after serving three years and 11 months. On the day of her release, April 15, she was met by her brother, sister, nephew, and friends, according to a website covering the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses* in Russia.

At the time of her arrest, Lyudmila Shchekoldina had serious health problems: internal organ disease, arthritis, and spinal pain. She was only able to undergo the necessary surgery in August 2023. Prior to this, she had to work in a garment factory and perform household chores despite her condition, the publication states.

Lyudmila Shchekoldina said that the hospital director postponed her vacation to perform the surgery. "I felt like people were praying for me all over the world. "I had strength, I didn't lose heart, I continued to maintain my joy," Shchekoldina was quoted as saying in the publication.

As a reminder, in October 2021, the Pavlovsky District Court of Kuban sentenced Jehovah's Witness* Vladimir Skachidub to four years and two months in prison, deeming him a member of an extremist organization. In April 2022, the regional court refused to reduce the sentence for 60-year-old Skachidub, who maintained his innocence. In September 2025, the believer was released from prison.

In April 2020, searches were conducted on the Skachidub family and eight other residents of the villages of Pavlovskaya and Kholmskaya. Two months later, a criminal case was opened against the believer. Investigators deemed his meetings with fellow believers "dangerous to society and the state."

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

On April 20, 2017, following a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court of Russia 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 the thematic page "The Ministry of Justice against Jehovah's Witnesses*".

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

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/422571