Biography
Valery Petrenko was born in the city of Berezniki, Perm Territory, in 1962. Since childhood he is fond of radio electronics, loves to fish, play the guitar and harmonica, as well as travel. After school, he entered the branch of the Perm Polytechnic Institute in Berezniki, received the specialty of an automation engineer. He worked as a locksmith and foreman in instrumentation and automation. He is now retired.
Valery met his future wife Galina before studying at the institute, in 1985 they got married. Galina worked as a computer operator, and later as a software engineer. The couple love to go fishing and pick mushrooms and berries. They have two sons who live separately but maintain a good relationship with their parents.
Since childhood, Valery wondered: what awaits after death? What is the "end of the world"? Starting to read the Bible, he found answers to all his questions, learned about Jesus Christ, his Father and what kind of future he had prepared for people. At that time, it was difficult for him to imagine that he would be overtaken by criminal prosecution for his faith.
The Petrenko family still feels the consequences of searches and interrogations. Valeriy's bank cards are blocked, so he cannot get an additional job, and Galina suffers from heart problems and needs constant medication.
Valeriy's family and friends know him as a peaceful and non-confrontational person, which completely contradicts the label of an extremist that has been hung on him. Valery decided not to devote his relatives to the details of the criminal prosecution. But, as one of his relatives once put it when he learned about the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses: "I wish I had more such extremist relatives."