Biography
Valeriy Gurskiy became one of 10 Jehovah's Witnesses sent to a detention center after a large-scale raid on Voronezh Jehovah's Witnesses in the summer of 2020. After 5.5 years of criminal prosecution, the court sent the believer to a penal colony for 6 years, considering his guilt in extremism proven.
Valeriy was born in 1963 in Voronezh. He grew up with two brothers, the younger and the older ones. As a child, he was fond of athletics and studied birds. After studying at the aviation school, he worked mainly in the field of repair: as a finisher of premises, a sewing machine operator, and an assembler of plastic windows.
In his spare time, Valeriy grows grapes and makes wine, collects mushrooms, gardening. He is still fascinated by bird watching. The man often helps neighbors and friends with the repair of faulty devices. "If something is broken, go to Valera. He will gladly fix it, and the thing will be like new," his friends say.
In the 1990s, Valeriy worked as a security guard, and he had a lot of time to read. Among the books he found one about God. After reading it overnight, he realized that he had learned something important and began to study the Bible.
In 1988, Valeriy met his future wife, Tatyana. The woman is a vegetable agronomist by education, but no longer works, is on the second disability group.
The criminal prosecution became stressful for the Gurskiy family and their loved ones. Everyone who knows Valeriy is worried about the unfair treatment of this soulful and meek man.
In his final plea, the believer said: "I never imagined that I would be honored with such a great honor to stand up for God's good name in court and to preach his kingdom to you. It warms my heart to think that I am not here because of some mistake of mine, not because I stole something or beat someone. No, I have not violated either the law of God or the law of man, so my conscience is clear."