Biography
Amaliya Malchugova was 77 years old when, in October 2025, law enforcement officers broke into her home, smashing a window. The elderly woman, who is a person with a disability, was charged with extremism for remaining true to her beliefs as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Amaliya was born in February 1948 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Her parents faced repression based on their ethnicity and were exiled from the Volga German Republic in 1941. Her father spent seven years in the uranium mines of the Urals under the labor army system (a system of forced labor mobilization in the USSR during World War II). Amaliya grew up in a large family with seven children, where she was the third child.
For many years, Amaliya worked as a nurse in a physiotherapy room. In 1999, she retired on a seniority pension.
Amaliya learned about the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1991. Five years later, she was baptized.
Amaliya was widowed in 2018. Her husband shared her religious beliefs. He was a director and, together with friends, put on stage productions of Bible stories on multiple occasions.
Amaliya suffers from several serious illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Because her bank card was blocked, she was left without means of subsistence for almost two months. Neighbors are concerned about the believer.