Name: Galka Yuriy Yuriyevich
Date of Birth: October 28, 1975
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (1)
Time spent in prison: 1 day in a temporary detention facility, 141 day in a pre-trial detention
Current restrictions: detention center
Sentence: imprisonment for a term of 6 years in a general regime penal colony
Currently held in: Detention Center No.1 for Voronezh Region

Galka Yuriy Yuriyevich, born 1975, Detention Center No.1 for Voronezh Region, ul. Zhelyabova, 56, Voronezh, Voronezh Region, 394030

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Biography

On July 13, 2020 more than 110 searches of Jehovah's Witnesses' homes were conducted in the Voronezh region. Ten men aged 24 to 56 years were sent to the pre-trial detention center. Several believers were tortured. Among them was Yuriy Galka.

Yuriy was born in 1975 in the Ukrainian city of Marganets. Yuri is the oldest child in a family with many children. He has a sister and two brothers. When the boy was 2 years old, the family moved to Tajikistan. As a child Yuriy liked to read books, was fond of shooting and karate.

While the young man was studying at the Russian-Tajik University in philology, there was a civil war in Tajikistan. Many families, including Yuriy's one, were starving. To help his family, he combined his studies with a job as a journalist for a local television and radio company, as well as an elevator operator and a construction worker.

At that difficult time, Yuri became acquainted with the biblical teachings professed by Jehovah's Witnesses. The truth from the Bible touched his heart. As a child, he often participated in fights, but through the study of the Holy Scriptures, he learned to love peace.

After graduation, the young man moved to Voronezh, and later his whole family joined him. Here Yuriy had to learn more than one specialty: security guard, loader, tiler. Now he is engaged in tile and mosaic laying.

In 2009, Yuriy married Nadezhda. Modesty of the young man, his tactfulness, reliability, humor and self-esteem attracted the girl. Together they bring up Nadezhda's daughter, encouraging the teenager to develop spiritual values. As a family, they love to spend time with friends, including in nature.

Although Yuriy's family and colleagues do not share his religious views, they are bewildered by the prosecution of a believer. Wife and daughter miss their husband and father very much and wait for him at home. The believer himself is convinced that justice will eventually be restored.

Case History

On a single day, July 13, 2020, 110 searches were carried out in seven localities of the Voronezh region—a record-breaking operation against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. Five believers reported being tortured by law enforcement officers. The Investigative Committee charged ten men (aged 24 to 56 at that moment) with organizing extremist activity and sent them to pre-trial detention, where most remained for nearly five months. The events in Voronezh sparked widespread public outcry: EU countries, as well as the United Kingdom and the United States, expressed regret and bewilderment over what had happened. The believers themselves deny any guilt in extremism and emphasize that, as Christians, they respect the authorities and peacefully practice their faith in accordance with constitutional rights. The trial began in December 2021. Nearly four years later, the believers were sentenced to various punishments—ranging from six years of suspended sentence to seven years in colony.
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