A woman from Nizhny Novgorod had to prove in court that she was alive.

      January 12, 2026 14:57 Society

      An unusual case was heard in the Kanavinsky District Court of Nizhny Novgorod: a city resident had to prove in court that she is alive. The woman filed a lawsuit against the local civil registry office (ZAGS), demanding that the record of her death, entered in error, be annulled. This is stated in the court decision posted in the case file.

      According to the case materials, the Nizhny Novgorod resident discovered she was listed as deceased when she was restoring her passport after losing it. There was a death record for her in the Unified State Register of Civil Status Acts.

      It turned out that a patient without documents had previously been admitted to one of the city hospitals, giving the plaintiff’s name and surname. She soon died, and, based on the medical death certificate, an official record was issued.

      The woman appealed to the prosecutor’s office, then to the court, stating that because of the erroneous record she could not restore her passport and exercise her civil rights. The case materials also indicate that no identity document for the deceased was presented to the civil registry office when registering the death.

      After examining the circumstances, the court concluded that the official record did not correspond to reality. The claim was granted. The court ordered the annulment of the record of her death and that, instead of the deceased person’s name, the entry should read “Unknown person.”

      The decision may be appealed to an appellate court within a month. At present it has not entered into legal force.

      It was previously reported that Nizhny Novgorod residents can now verify their age using a digital ID in the Max messenger.

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