On March 31, 2021, the Birobidzhan District Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region convicted Sister Tatyana Zagulina. She was given a suspended prison sentence of two years and six months.

Tatyana Zagulina

• Born: 1984 (Selektsionnaya Village, Trans-Baikal Territory)

• Biography: Studied fashion design. Has worked as a manicurist and a seamstress, primarily altering wedding dresses. Enjoys playing volleyball and table tennis, dancing, and knitting

  Has always admired nature and believed life was created. Eventually, this led her to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Baptized in 2010. Married Dmitriy in 2012

On May 17, 2018, 150 law enforcement officers raided 22 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The authorities code-named the operation “Judgment Day.” Since then, the local investigator’s office has initiated criminal charges against 22 brothers and sisters in the region. On February 6, 2020, criminal charges were filed against six Christian sisters, including Tatyana, for “extremist” activity.

Tatyana’s criminal trial began on September 17, 2020. While she awaits a verdict, the authorities have restricted her travel to within the region and have frozen her bank accounts.

Tatyana says that prayer and a good spiritual routine is helping her to cope and to continue preaching and defending her faith. She says: “When [the authorities] came, the loud knocking at the door frightened me, but I immediately said a prayer. After that, I began to feel calmer.”

For example, during the search of her home, she told one of the officers that her faith had grown stronger that day. When he asked her why, she said that she felt like she was fulfilling Jesus’ words at John 15:20 where he said: “A slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” She further relates: “One of the officers responded by saying, ‘Well, the way you are talking now, I feel like one of the people who impaled Jesus.’ At that moment, not only was my faith strengthened but I also experienced a feeling of peace and joy in my heart. I could feel that Jehovah was there beside me!” At the start of her hearings, she was somewhat intimidated by the court. But after praying for boldness, she relates, “Now I speak with confidence.”

We thank Jehovah for supporting and blessing the ‘faithful work, loving labor, and endurance’ of our dear brothers and sisters in Russia.—1 Thessalonians 1:2, 3.