Name: Burik Vitaliy Anatoliyevich
Date of Birth: October 7, 1971
Current status: accused
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 2 day in a temporary detention facility, 41 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: house arrest

Biography

Vitaliy Burik was born in October 1971 in the city of Svatovo (Ukraine). He has two younger sisters and a brother. Their parents divorced when Vitaliy was little. His mother is now retired, having previously worked as a photographer, sign language interpreter and truck driver. When the young man was in high school, his family moved to Kerch.

As a child, Vitaliy was fond of hockey, and loved skiing and skating. His mother taught the boy to work: he helped in the garden and with the housework. In high school, the young man played bass guitar in an ensemble. Vitaliy graduated from a technical school with a degree in mining technician. After graduation, he joined the army and served there as a musician in a military band. Upon returning home, he worked as an electrician, was engaged in apartment repairs and other construction work, and since 2008 he has been working at a thermal power plant as a pump operator.

Vitaliy's grandmother was the first in the family to start studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses. Thanks to Bible knowledge, her life improved, and this change impressed the young man. He, too, began to study the Bible. He was struck by the fact that this book provides answers to his questions. God became a real person for him, and the Lord's Prayer made sense: he now understood to whom and for what he was praying. He also concluded that Jehovah's Witnesses are kind and sincere people who love God and each other. In 1994, Vitaliy joined them.

At one of the religious meetings, Vitaliy met his future wife, Galina. They got married in 1997. Galina grew up in a family of Jehovah's Witnesses. The good example of her parents and her own developed faith in God prompted her to be baptized in 1988. Since childhood, she was fond of swimming, loved to read a lot. She loved sewing and became a professional seamstress after school.

The couple have two daughters. The elder is already an adult, and she has her own family, and the youngest has been on disability since birth. Before the birth, doctors offered to terminate the pregnancy, but the spouses, due to their convictions, refused this step. The Bible taught them to value the life of even an unborn child. The parents love their daughter very much and are happy to take care of her.

The family enjoys cycling together. For his youngest daughter, Vitaliy made a bicycle taking into account her needs. The believer is still fond of music, especially playing the guitar and synthesizer. Recently, Vitaliy has fallen in love with sea fishing. Galina enjoys cooking, inviting friends, traveling and spending time with her family.

Relatives, friends, as well as acquaintances who do not share Vitaliy's religious views, are amazed by the persecution of a man who has always had a good reputation. Being under investigation, the believer cannot, as before, take care of his loved ones. The stress of what was happening affected the whole family.

Case History

In October 2024, a criminal case was opened against one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kerch: Vitaliy Burik was detained right at his workplace and taken home for a search. At that time, his minor daughter, who is on disability, was in the apartment. On the same day, Burik was charged with organizing the activities of an extremist organization and placed in a temporary detention center for 2 days, after which the court sent him under house arrest.
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