Biography
Operation "Judgment Day" against Jehovah's Witnesses in Birobidzhan in 2018 affected the family of Pavel Shishenko. Several years later, a criminal case was opened against him, and he was placed on the federal wanted list.
was born in August 1972 in the village of Leninskoye (the Jewish Autonomous Region). He has an older brother and sister. Pavel's father worked as a cooper for most of his life and was a Veteran of Labor; his mother worked as a painter and plasterer. Both of his parents have passed away.
Pavel was an active child: he played basketball and volleyball, enjoyed cycling, practiced wushu, and took up woodcarving. He graduated from a vocational school with a specialty as a general-purpose machine operator, and later, already as an adult, earned a university degree in management. Over the years, Pavel tried many lines of work: he was an auto mechanic, a boiler operator, a carpenter, made and restored furniture, worked as a furniture sales manager, and served as an inspector of electric metering devices. Most recently, he has been doing turnkey apartment renovations.
In 1990, Pavel came to Birobidzhan to train as a driver. There he met Yelena, who became his wife two and a half years later. Yelena is a medical worker. Like her husband, she comes from a large family. Together, the couple raised two children. They also cared for Yelena's mother until her death in 2019.
The family loves spending time outdoors: every year they would go into the mountains and join friends on river rafting trips. More recently, Pavel has taken up photography. "I love watching sunrises and seeing off sunsets through a camera lens," he said. "I'm inspired by scenic places, mountains, and the beauty of nature."
Pavel recalls: "My father loved watching the night sky with me, thinking about stars and meteorites. It shaped the way I think. I started asking questions: Where did we come from on Earth? What's out there in the boundless cosmos?" In the fall of 1994, Pavel and Yelena began studying the Bible. "This book brought peace to our family and gave us the right direction," Pavel said. "It helped me view world events through the lens of Bible prophecy and understand more deeply what is happening." In 1995, the couple were baptized together as Jehovah's Witnesses. "It was one of the most important decisions of our lives," he shared.
When their home was searched in 2018, the couple experienced severe stress. "Our children worry about us and support us wholeheartedly," Pavel says. "Our relatives don't understand why we are being persecuted."