Biography
Yelena Shestopalova is a loving grandmother, mother and wife. Throughout her life she has tried to help others. In the fall of 2025, following her daughter Vladlena, she was prosecuted for her faith in Jehovah God. "I have to learn to trust people again," she said.
Yelena was born in the summer of 1965 in the city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy, located on the west coast of Sakhalin Island. She is the second of three sisters. Even though their parents adhered to different beliefs, the family was close-knit. Her father worked as a driver all his life, and her mother worked at a local fish factory. According to Yelena's recollections, her father was respected for his willingness to help, and when he died, his obituary was published in the local newspaper.
Her parents taught the girls to help people. "Mom sent me with gifts to elderly neighbors," Yelena recalls. "We treated them to homebred meat and bacon. We washed dishes and floors, when they needed help. My mother would always say never take money for help. We could only accept a candy or cookie."
Yelena was a sporty child. In summer, she loved swimming and cycling, and in winter skiing, regularly taking part in competitions. She also liked knitting. After school, she enrolled as an external student at the agronomy faculty of the Ussuri Agricultural Institute (now the Perm State Agricultural Academy). She was actively involved in student life: she supported classmates who struggled academically and served as the group leader.
At the institute, Yelena met her future husband Nikolay, who was studying at the zoological faculty. They got married in 1987 and moved to Nikolay's hometown — Birobidzhan. The couple raised two daughters who already have their own families. Yelena and Nikolay love hiking and boating. She enjoys admiring the beauty of nature, bird watching, taking pictures and videos. She still likes to visit her hometown on Sakhalin and walk along the seashore.
Yelena has retired. During her life, she worked as an assistant in a biology laboratory, a social worker, as well as an agronomist in the Birobidzhan Youth Detention Center. Yelena helped her husband in his business, and for the last few years before retirement she worked as a cleaner for the Jewish Autonomous Region Authority.
She remembers when she first thought about God: "Around 1985, during a class on the basics of scientific atheism, the teacher gave us advice: 'If believers come up to you and talk about God, don't listen to them because they will definitely convince you that God exists.' From that time on, I wanted to find out: Does God really exist?" Thanks to a former colleague, she met Jehovah's Witnesses, began to study the Bible, and was baptized in the summer of 1995.
"Studying the Bible has become like a second higher education for me," Yelena said. "The knowledge from this book helped me overcome negative character traits. I remember my husband saying to his sister: 'Study the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses. Yelena has become wiser and calmer.' Applying Bible knowledge has helped me preserve and strengthen our marriage. I was also able to raise wise and kind children."
The criminal prosecution has changed the usual way of life of Yelena and her loved ones. "My husband, who does not share my religious views, experienced severe stress... and so did my children, as well as relatives and friends. They are very worried about me," she said. Yelena developed problems with blood pressure; she had to seek medical help due to anxiety and insomnia.