Biography
This is not the first time Ilya Olenin has faced religious persecution. In 2017, representatives of the FSB and the police broke into the building where the worship service was held. An administrative case was opened against the believer for carrying out missionary activities, but soon the proceedings were dismissed. Since November 2020, Olenin has been persecuted again for believing in Jehovah God.
Ilya was born in April 1977 in the city of Chelyabinsk. His father was engaged in construction and commerce, his mother taught Russian language and literature.
Parents divorced when Ilya was 6 years old, and his younger sister had just been born. In 2012, Ilya's father had a stroke, and now he is a disabled person of group I. Since he was declared legally incompetent by the court, Ilya took custody of him. In 2019, Olenin's mother retired to take care of her elderly parents, who live in a remote village. Her father is a veteran of World War II, after the operation he needs constant care.
During his school years, Ilya was engaged in tennis, karting, swimming, martial arts and learned to play the guitar. In 1993, the whole family had a serious accident, as a result of which Ilya received a dislocated leg and a fracture of the pelvic bones. He spent almost the entire next school year in the hospital. During the operation, his sciatic nerve was damaged, which caused paresis of his left foot. Due to the destruction of the hip joint, he was given an endoprosthesis in 2018.
After school, Ilya entered the Aerospace Faculty of the Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute and graduated with honors. After that, he was invited to the city of Snezhinsk, where he still works as a designer as a leading engineer.
From an early age, Ilya thought about the meaning of life. The accident was a turning point for him - it was then that he realized that life could end in an instant. The young man began to read the New Testament because he did not have a complete Bible. In 1998, he began studying the Scriptures with Jehovah's Witnesses. He was touched by the consistency of this book and how accurately it describes the origin of the world. He concluded that the Bible is the best guide for life. In 2006, Ilya embarked on the Christian path.
Ilya met his current wife Natalia in 2008. At that time she lived in the city of Ozyorsk, located 40 km from Snezhinsk. After 7 years, they got married. Ilya has a daughter from her first marriage, and Natalia has two sons. She graduated from music school and shares Ilya's love for music. Spouses like to relax in nature in the company of friends. Natalya believed in God, and began to study the Bible thanks to her own sister. She was attracted by the benevolent attitude of Jehovah's Witnesses, who helped her find answers to her questions with the help of the Holy Scriptures.
Due to criminal prosecution and uncertainty about the future, the spouses experience emotional strain and anxiety. Ilya had heart problems.
Relatives know Ilya as a decent and kind person and do not understand how in a state governed by the rule of law a person can be persecuted only for his faith in God.