Biography
Dmitriy Semyonov, who previously served as a witness in a case against another believer, later found himself under criminal investigation. According to law enforcement officers, he "encouraged" residents of his city to study the Bible.
Dmitriy was born in 1984 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. He has a younger sister. Their parents are retired. As a child, Dmitriy was interested in sailing, modeling, collecting foreign coins, and enjoyed hiking.
After finishing school, Dmitriy graduated from Kamchatka State University named after Vitus Bering, where he trained as an applied mathematician and computer scientist.
Dmitriy's parents instilled a love of reading the Bible in him from early childhood. However, his faith in God grew stronger while he was studying at the university. There, the theory of evolution was taught as a proven fact. Dmitriy recalls: "When we constructed various models, for example the development of animal populations, I saw how everything was interconnected, that it could not have been the result of evolution." After graduating from university, Dmitriy decided to join Jehovah's Witnesses.
Guided by his peaceful Christian beliefs, Dmitriy exercised his right to alternative civilian service in Yekaterinburg. In the first months, he worked as a systems administrator at the Uraltransmash plant, and later transferred to a civil engineering design bureau, in the engineering calculations department, where he could work in his specialty and took part in designing trams.
Dmitriy works as a programmer. He enjoys gardening, plays guitar, and goes hiking.
"The very fact of criminal prosecution and everything connected with it caused significant emotional harm," Dmitriy stated in his final statement in court. In July 2025, the court found Dmitriy guilty and gave him a 4-year suspended sentence.