Biography
In May 2018, a mass raid on peaceful believers took place in Birobidzhan. The operation, codenamed "Judgment Day", involved 150 law enforcement personnel. Dmitriy Zagulin was accused of financing the activities of an extremist organization. Four and a half years later, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to three and a half years in prison merely because of his faith in Jehovah God.
Dmitriy was born in 1973 in Khabarovsk. He has a younger brother. As a child, Dmitriy wanted to join the army, so he engaged in martial arts and parachuting.
In 1991, Dmitriy began to study the Bible. This prompted him to reconsider his outlook on life. Soon he wrote an application to replace military service with alternative civilian service. At that time, refusal to serve in the army could lead to criminal prosecution, but the unexpected happened: the inspector of the military registration and enlistment office made a note in his personal file: "suspend until the ACS [alternative civilian service] law is passed." Dmitriy recalls that, perhaps, then he was not yet ready for imprisonment, and considers what happened a real miracle.
Dmitriy graduated from the Railway Transport College and worked for the Russian Railways company for many years. He was considered a valuable employee of the department, which was confirmed by numerous awards and gifts. After the searches in May 2018, the boss told Dmitriy that FSB had come to him and demanded that he dismiss the believer, but the boss vouched for him. However, in November 2021, Zagulin was fired in connection with the lawsuit, explaining this by the request of the FSB.
In 1998, Dmitriy moved to Birobidzhan for family reasons, where he lives up to this day. In 2012, he married Tatyana.