Case of Voronchikhin and others in Simferopol Aleksandr Kopylets

  CRIMEA

Case of Voronchikhin and others in Simferopol

Aleksandr Kopylets

Updated: October 5, 2023

Name: Kopylets, Aleksandr Yevgeniyevich

Date of Birth: July 10, 1977

Current status: accused

Article of the Russian Criminal Code: 282.2 (1)

Time spent in prison: 2 days in temporary holding facility, 50 days under house arrest

Current restrictions: house arrest

Biography

In August 2023, Alexander Kopylets from Armyansk became a defendant in a criminal case for his faith in Jehovah God. Shortly before this, his mother died from a long illness. A father with a disability remained in the care of the believer.

Alexander was born in July 1977 in Crimea, in the village of Perekop (Crimea). He has two older sisters. Their father worked as a tractor driver at a factory, and their mother worked in a field crew.

As a child, Alexander loved to ride a bike and listen to music. After school, he graduated from Kherson State Technical University with a degree in “Equipment for chemical production and construction materials enterprises.” Until 2006, he worked as a site foreman at a chemical plant. Then he began to engage in construction work and moved to the urban village of Pervomaiskoye (Crimea).

Even as a child, Alexander began reading the New Testament. Therefore, when he later met Jehovah's Witnesses, he compared their beliefs and lifestyle with what was written in the Bible. In 1996, he made a conscious decision to take the Christian path.

In 2012, Alexander married Elena. She is a seamstress by profession, sews outerwear, and also masters hairdressing. Elena shares her husband's religious views. Seeing biblical prophecies being fulfilled, she decided to take the Christian path.

At different times, the couple lived in the village. Razdolnoe, Krivoy Rog, Feodosia, Simferopol, Stary Krym, Novoalekseevka. In 2022, they moved to Armyansk to care for their sick parents.

Due to criminal prosecution, Alexander found himself under house arrest, deprived of the opportunity to provide for his family and be with his wife, who is caring for her paralyzed mother. Although Alexander’s relatives do not share his beliefs, they are shocked by the criminal prosecution of a peaceful believer.

Brief history of the case

In November 2022, mass searches of believers took place in the Simferopol region of Crimea. Dmitry Naukhatsky was detained and placed under house arrest, and Alexander Voronchikhin was interrogated and a written undertaking not to leave was taken from him. The Investigative Committee accused these men of organizing the activities of an extremist organization for holding religious services. In August 2023, new searches took place in Armyansk, Simferopol and Saki, including at Voronchikhin’s son-in-law. New defendants have appeared in the case: Dmitry Zakharevich, Victor Manya and Alexander Kopylets.

Criminal case

Region:

Crimea

Locality:

Simferopol

What is suspected:

“committed active actions of an organizational nature, expressed in the organization of propaganda meetings at which discussions of the texts and religious provisions of Jehovah’s Witnesses were held” (from the decision to initiate a criminal case)

Criminal case number:

12202350020000180

Initiated:

November 17, 2022

Current stage of the case:

preliminary investigation

Investigates:

the first investigative department for the investigation of particularly important cases of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1), 282.3 (1)