Biography
Since the beginning of spring 2022, Aleksandr and Yekaterina Chagan's home has been searched twice. Aleksandr was detained and sent to jail on suspicion of extremism.
Aleksandr Chagan was born in 1971 in Dnepropetrovsk (then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). A year later, the family moved to Tolyatti. The boy's mother died when he was only 11 years old, and his father raised two sons alone. After a while, the father remarried and the couple had another son.
Aleksandr recalls that the family got along well. As a child, he enjoyed wrestling and boxing. The father set up a sport's area with a horizontal bar in the home and also taught the children to play chess. He worked hard to ensure that his sons grew up to be well-rounded people.
After the eighth grade Aleksandr went to a vocational school and became an automotive mechanic. After graduating with honors, he continued his studies at college but did not graduate; he left to serve in the army. When the young man returned, he went to a university to study humanities. Later, Aleksandr learned to work with computers and began to work in that field.
Alexander loves sports, just as he did in childhood.
In the late 1990s, Aleksandr often thought about the meaning of life, because he did not find satisfaction either in money or in his career. At the age of 30, he met Jehovah's Witnesses. From them, he first learned that the Bible does not contradict science and that the Scriptures contain information about death and about the Creator's purpose for mankind. Aleksandr concluded that the Bible was the Word of God and decided to become a follower of Christ.
In 2008 Aleksandr married Yekaterina. She shares her husband's beliefs. Yekaterina loves sewing and drawing.
Together, the couple raised Yekaterina's daughter, Regina. In their free time, the family likes to take walks and travel together. Aleksandr also has a daughter from his first marriage.
“The criminal prosecution came as a surprise to us, but at that time we felt the love of fellow believers, and we saw God fulfill his promise: “I will never leav