{"id":10146,"date":"2026-01-23T14:43:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/?p=10146"},"modified":"2026-01-23T14:43:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:43:40","slug":"vladlena-kukavitsa-from-birobidzhan-was-again-convicted-for-her-faith-this-time-four-and-a-half-years-suspended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/vladlena-kukavitsa-from-birobidzhan-was-again-convicted-for-her-faith-this-time-four-and-a-half-years-suspended\/","title":{"rendered":"Vladlena Kukavitsa From Birobidzhan Was Again Convicted for Her Faith. This time\u2014Four and a Half Years Suspended"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vladlena Kukavitsa, 35, has been defending her right to freedom of religion for two years, the last 7 months\u2014at a second trial in the Birobidzhan District Court. Judge Olga Klyuchikova made the final decision on January 22, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Vladlena Kukavitsa near the courthouse on the day of the verdict. January 22, 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first court\u00a0sentence\u00a0(6 years suspended) was overturned by the court of appeal. Vladlena was accused of involving persons in the activities of an extremist organization and participating in it. The case of the believer, like dozens of similar ones throughout the country, was based on the testimony of an informant. Vladlena believes that in her conversations with\u00a0Zhukova-Suvorova, who turned out to be an embedded agent, there were no manifestations of extremism. The fellowship was friendly and focused on discussing Bible teachings, discussing God’s qualities, and praying. The videos that were viewed in court showed how Vladlena encouraged the woman to show love to others, forgive and not hold a grudge.<\/p>\n

After the liquidation of religious organizations and the beginning of actual persecution against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, Vladlena was overwhelmed with anxiety. “At first, it was difficult. I heard the news: in one place or another, law enforcement officers break into houses, conduct searches and arrest people,” she says. “Sadly, some ended up behind bars. But I saw how they overcame all this. It strengthened me.”<\/p>\n

Still, the stress in connection with the criminal prosecution did not go unnoticed. “I was forced to seek medical help repeatedly because criminal prosecution harmed my health. Now I am constantly taking medications,” she said at one of the court hearings.<\/p>\n

Vladlena expressed special gratitude to her mother for her support: “She goes all this way with me. She also had to go through searches and interrogation; she always accompanied me when I went to the investigator and waited on the street next to the FSB building while I was there.” In October 2025, a criminal case was also opened against Kukavitsa’s mother,\u00a0Yelena Shestopalova.<\/p>\n

The family of Vladlena Kukavitsa is not the first to be in the focus of attention of the law enforcement officers. In Birobidzhan,\u00a0eight families\u00a0are already persecuted for their faith in Jehovah God. This trend\u00a0has been going\u00a0on for years.<\/p>\n

Vladlena Kukavitsa is one of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses from Birobidzhan who were searched in February 2024. Shortly before that, the FSB opened a criminal case against the believer for involvement in the activities of an extremist organization because of conversations about the Bible with a local resident. A month later, FSB investigator Dmitriy Yankin, who had previously initiated the criminal prosecution of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in Birobidzhan, opened a second criminal case against her\u2014for participation in the activities of an extremist organization. In September 2024, the trial began, which after 7 months sentenced Vladlena to 6 years suspended. The appeal overturned this decision due to violation of the principle of transparency and sent the case for a new trial to the Birobidzhan District Court, which began in June 2025. Meanwhile, Vladlena\u2019s mother, Yelena Shestopalova, also came under investigation\u2014a criminal case was initiated against her in October. In January 2026, a new sentence was handed down\u20144.5 years suspended.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vladlena Kukavitsa, 35, has been defending her right to freedom of religion for two years, the last 7 months\u2014at a second trial in the Birobidzhan District Court. Judge Olga Klyuchikova made the final decision on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10148,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10146\/revisions\/10148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}