MAY 18, 2022 | UPDATED: MARCH 12, 2024
RUSSIA

UPDATE—BROTHER IMPRISONED | Inver Siyukhov Filled With Strength

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On March 7, 2024, the Maykop City Court of the Republic of Adygeya convicted Brother Inver Siyukhov and sentenced him to six years in prison. He has been in pretrial detention since April 2021 and will remain in custody.

Time Line

April 15, 2021

Charged for holding meetings using videoconferencing tools
April 16, 2021

Authorities searched Inver’s home as well as the homes of four other Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was interrogated and placed in temporary detention
April 17, 2021

Sent to pretrial detention
August 15, 2021

Transferred to a maximum-security detention center 110 kilometers (68 mi) from Maykop
September 13, 2021

The criminal trial began

Profile

Inver Siyukhov

Born:1974 (Maykop)

Biography: Studied accounting and auditing. Has worked as a bank cashier and an accountant

Began studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1989. Was impressed by their honesty. Baptized on September 9, 1990. Shared the truth with his older sister, who was baptized in 1992. His sister and her husband are his only family members who are Witnesses

Personal Comments From Inver’s Fleshly Sister, Zarieta Churda a

What is helping Inver to endure his detention?

The first time we were able to meet in the detention center, I asked him how he felt being so isolated from his friends and family. He lit up and said that from the moment the search began, he started to feel as if Jehovah was filling him with strength, just like you would fill up a balloon with air.

Additionally, he maintains a good spiritual routine by reading three chapters from the Hebrew Scriptures and one chapter from the Greek Scriptures every day. And he tries to help other inmates by offering them practical assistance. During the first two months, he helped two prisoners to quit smoking.

What have you done to prepare, knowing that you and your husband may also be arrested?

When tourists prepare to travel to another country, they may get immunized against potential diseases. My “immunizations” are Bible verses, our songs, and encouraging experiences. When Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned in Russia in 2017, I reread the Yearbook reports on how the work was carried out in other restricted countries. I was interested in learning how, despite the dangers, our brothers and sisters had maintained their faith and kept preaching.

We have decided that if we are arrested, we will not pity ourselves. We are going to view it as a challenging yet precious assignment, as if Jehovah has said to us: “Step over into Macedonia.”—Acts 16:9.

We are confident that our dear Russian brothers and sisters will “go on acquiring power in the Lord and in the mightiness of his strength.”—Ephesians 6:10.

a Because Brother Siyukhov is currently in pretrial detention, it was not possible to obtain comments from him.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

UPDATE—BROTHER IMPRISONED | Inver Siyukhov Filled With Strength

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