One of Jehovah's Witnesses who achieved recognition of this religion in the USSR passed away

On November 14, 2016, in Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Territory), Mikhail Savitsky, an elder of Jehovah's Witnesses, who a quarter of a century ago put his signature on a document submitted for registration of the "Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR," died. This historic document was signed on March 27, 1991 in the Ministry of Justice of the RSFSR after many decades of religious persecution.

Mikhail Savitsky became a Jehovah's Witness in 1949, and two years later, at the age of 18, he was sentenced to 4 years in prison because of his faith. In April 1951, while he was imprisoned in Lviv, his family was exiled to Siberia along with thousands of other Jehovah's Witnesses. After his early release, he and his extended family were forced to change their place of residence many times. Mikhail Vasilyevich Savitsky died at the age of 84.