Biography
Nina Purge is one of the elderly residents of Vladivostok accused of extremism because of her love for the Bible.
Nina was born in July 1940 in the village of Pesochek (Pskov region). She has a younger brother. Their childhood took place in wartime and was difficult. When the village was occupied by German soldiers in 1942, Nina miraculously escaped death.
Nina received the profession of livestock specialist and worked in it, and later she was engaged in cleaning in preschool educational institutions. After graduating from the Tallinn Naval School, Nina's husband was assigned to Vladivostok and since then they have been living in this city. The couple raised two children.
Nina became interested in Bible teachings in the late 1990s. Bible advice helped her change her life for the better.
The criminal prosecution had a serious impact on the health of an elderly woman.
Case History
In April 2018, the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Primorye Territory opened a criminal case against Jehovah’s Witnesses from Vladivostok. Believers were searched. Valentyn Osadchuk spent 9 months in pre-trial detention and 77 days under house arrest. In April 2019, he was accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization, and 6 elderly women — Lyubov Galaktionova, Nailya Kogai, Nina Purga, Nadezhda Anoykina, Raisa Usanova and Yelena Zayshchuk — were accused of participating in it. Soon the case was received by the Leninsky District Court, but a month later the judge returned it to the prosecutor. This decision was upheld twice by the appellate court. Since January 2021, the case has been re-examined in the same court by Maksim Anufriev. With regard to Zayshchuk, the case was suspended due to her advanced age and state of health. In May 2022, the prosecutor requested a sentence of 6.5 years in prison for Valentin Osadchuk, and a 5-year suspended sentence for women. In June, the court sentenced the believers to suspended sentences ranging from 2 to 6 years. In September 2022, the appeal upheld the verdict.
