Biography
Since the end of 2020, Lyudmila Salikova, a Jehovah's Witness from Snezhinsk, has been hit by misfortunes one after another—searches at work and at home, dismissal due to persecution for her faith, and the death of her younger sister. A criminal case was opened against the veteran of labor and the nuclear industry, accusing her of organizing the activities of an extremist organization.
Lyudmila was born in May 1951 in Sysert (Sverdlovsk region). She spent her childhood nearby, in Asbest, located 20 km from her hometown, where her father, who was wounded in the war, was sent. He worked in an asbestos mining factory. The large family had 2 sons and 3 daughters, so the mother did not work and was engaged in raising children. She taught Lyudmila to sew and knit, which she did for many years. The whole family loved to go picking mushrooms and berries.
After school, Lyudmila worked as a teacher of biology and drawing in the village school. At the Sverdlovsk Electrotechnical College of Communications in Yekaterinburg, she received a degree in wire communications electrical technician. In 1972, she moved to Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk region), where she still lives. There, Lyudmila was engaged in the design of electrical documentation, later worked as an electrical engineer in the technical department, then as a leading specialist in the energy department of the city administration. From 1993 to November 2020, she worked as an energy engineer at the City Administration. Due to religious persecution, she was forced to write a letter of resignation and retire.
While studying at the technical school, Lyudmila met Yuriy, and in 1971 they got married. The couple raised three sons, who now have their own families. Yuriy died in 2009.
Lyudmila likes to travel, she has visited many southern cities of Russia and the Baltic states. She was an athletic person: she participated in volleyball and cross-country skiing competitions, was engaged in tourism, climbing the peaks of the Ural Mountains. Recently she liked riding a bicycle.
In 1999, Lyudmila's elder sister began to read the Bible regularly, six months later Lyudmila herself joined her, and five years later, their younger sister. In the Bible, Lyudmila found answers to questions about the meaning of life and why there is a lot of injustice, violence and war in the world. In 2002, she became one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Lyudmila's relatives, who do not share her religious convictions, consider the criminal prosecution of the believer to be unjustified repressions.