Admin l Monday, August 02, 2021
MOSCOW, Russia – Two members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses among those beaten to stupor by Russian guards have been released from prison. The two, Witnesses, Gennadiy German and Roman Gridasov were released July 29, 2021 after completion of their prison terms.
The two Jehovah’s Witnesses were among the five members from Saratov who were beaten upon arrival at a prison in Orenburg, in Russia. Two of the five, Feliks Makhammadiyev(who almost died after severe brutalization and damage to his lung, kidney and rib cage) and Aleksey Budenchuk were released in January and July 2021 respectively, while Aleksey Miretskiy remains imprisoned in Orenburg and is scheduled to be released in early August 2021.
On February 6, 2020, Russian prison guards of Penal Colony No. 1, Orenburg severely beat the five members of Jehovah’s Witnesses with clubs to stupor. One of them, Brother Makhammadiyev was hospitalized after experiencing a broken rib, a punctured lung, as well as damage to his kidney.
Others, Budenchuk, German, Gridasov, and Miretskiy, after being beaten, were sent to a punishment cell on absurd, fabricated charges. Among the outrageous charges was smoking cigarettes – a practice prohibited by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
On September 19, 2019, Judge Dmitry Larin of the Leninsky District Court of Saratov convicted the five Witnesses with a sixth brother, Konstantin Bazhenov. They were sentenced to prison for terms of two to three and a half years. They appealed the sentence.
On December 20, 2019, the Saratov Regional Court denied their appeal. Several weeks later, all six of the JWs were transferred to prison. Bazhenov was sent to Penal Colony No. 3 in the Ulyanovsk Region, so he was not included in the torture at Penal Colony No. 1.
As soon as the five brothers arrived on February 6, 2020, at Penal Colony No. 1, they were beaten. They were not examined by doctors until the next day when it was discovered that Makhammadiyev had a high fever, and blood was found in his urine.
The prison administration called an ambulance only after forcing Makhammadiyev to sign a document indicating that he merely “slipped in the bathroom and fell.”
Makhammadiyev was hospitalized and underwent surgery – a stent was inserted into his lung to drain accumulated fluids.
Tests also showed that Makhammadiyev suffered from starvation, since the prison administration confiscated the special food he needs to cope with the celiac disease he had.
