Biography
An ordinary resident of Omsk, Leonid Pyzhov, worked in a social taxi, a service that deals with free or preferential transportation of the poor and those who cannot move independently. As one of Jehovah's Witnesses, he also talked to others about the Bible, for which he was prosecuted.
Leonid was born in 1973 in the city of Kurgan. He has a younger brother and sister. Their mother is now retired and lives alone.
In his youth, Leonid was fond of various types of martial arts. After school, he studied at a construction college as a mechanic. Before his arrest, already in Omsk, where he moved with his wife, he worked as a social taxi driver and manager of a pick-up point.
Leonid likes to do things with his own hands, such as carpentry, growing plants. He had a plan to build a house.
Even in his youth, Leonid was interested in questions about God and Jesus Christ. After reading the Gospels on his own, he concluded that in order to be a disciple of Jesus, you need to share with others what you have learned. One day, Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on Leonid's door and invited him to study the Bible. In it, he found answers to his questions. In 1995, Leonid became one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Leonid met his future wife Tatyana among his fellow believers. They got married in 1996.
In March 2024, their home was searched. Leonid was detained and placed first in a temporary detention center, and then in a pre-trial detention center According to Tatyana, parting with her husband is a great grief for her.
Relatives worry about Leonid and are waiting for him to return home. They speak of him as a loving person, far from violence and extremism. According to them, Leonid is being persecuted only because he believes in God and reads the Bible.