Evgeny Ivanov was detained on 9 June 2020 following a search and was subsequently taken into custody by court order on 11 June. He was accused of organising activities of an extremist organisation due to his involvement with the Jehovah's Witnesses community, a group whose members have been prosecuted under extremist charges for engaging in religious activities such as meetings, joint worship services, and recruiting new followers. Later, Ivanov was also accused of financing extremist activities. On 25 October 2021, he was sentenced to eight years in a medium-security prison. On 22 December 2022, a cassation court added a restriction to his sentence, banning him from traveling outside Astrakhan.

You can read more about politically persecuted people in the Telegram channel OVD-Info LIVE and our politically motivated criminal prosecutions in Russia database