Detention: On August 3, 2021, following a series of searches in the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses, Russian investigators initiated a criminal case against Darya Mykolaivna Kuzio. She was charged under Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Russian Criminal Code ('financing extremist organization activities'), alleging she made donations to the Jehovah's Witnesses religious community. She was placed under travel restrictions as a preventive measure. Human rights defenders emphasize that the persecution is solely related to her religious beliefs.

Sentence: On February 27, 2023, the Russia-controlled Yalta City Court found Darya Kuzio guilty and sentenced her to a 3-year suspended sentence. On March 22, 2024, the Russia-controlled Supreme Court of Crimea overturned this sentence and sent the case for retrial.

Darya Mykolaivna Kuzio was born on March 13, 1982. She resides in Yalta. She is the wife of Taras Kuzio, who also faced persecution for belonging to the Jehovah's Witnesses religious community. The couple has two children.

After the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Federation in 2017, the occupying authorities extended the practice of criminal prosecution of believers to the temporarily occupied Crimea. In March 2021, following further searches in Yalta, a criminal case was opened against her husband Taras Kuzio. A few months later, the investigation expanded to include Darya Kuzio, Serhiy Lyulin, and Petro Zhiltsov.

On February 27, 2023, the Yalta City Court sentenced Darya Kuzio to a three-year suspended sentence. Unlike other defendants in the case, she was not taken into custody after the verdict was announced. On March 22, 2024, the Supreme Court of occupied Crimea overturned the sentences of all four defendants and sent the case for retrial, after which the criminal prosecution continued.

Human rights defenders consider her case an example of using anti-extremist legislation to persecute religious beliefs.

Information used from open sources: 'Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial', Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, Crimean Human Rights Group, Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Crimean Tatar Resource Center, ZMINA.

Photo: ZMINA.

Date updated: 07/26/2026.