The Yalta City Court of the Republic of Crimea is expected to announce its verdict in the trial concerning Brother Artem Gerasimov on March 3, 2020. The prosecutor has requested that Brother Gerasimov be sentenced to six and a half years in prison for his faith.

Brother Gerasimov was temporarily detained and interrogated on March 20, 2019, after Federal Security Service (FSB) officers raided eight homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Crimean cities of Alupka and Yalta. During the searches, officers seized computers and other electronic devices along with Bibles. Subsequently, FSB investigators charged Artem Gerasimov with organizing extremist activities, merely for meeting with others to discuss the Bible.

We have every confidence that Jehovah will help our brothers and sisters to remain “bold and strong” as they endure unjustified attacks on their faith.—Psalm 138:3.