A Russian court has sentenced six Jehovah’s Witnesses to prison, the latest targets in a multi-year campaign by the government against the faith’s members.
Russia banned Jehovah’s Witnesses as an alleged “extremist organization” in 2017, supposedly because they discourage blood transfusions. The men charged in this case, all from the Saratov region in western Russia, were accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization because they helped to conduct religious services for a banned faith.
A spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witnesses told the Washington Examiner that the men will serve terms ranging from two to 3.5 years, and are banned from holding leadership positions in public organizations for five years, pending an appeal of the verdict. The names of the convicted are Konstantin Bazhenov, Alexei Budenchuk, Felix Makhammadiev, Roman Gridasov, Gennady German, and Alexei Miretsky.
Law enforcement raided their homes in June 2018, and three of the men spent close to a year in pretrial detention. After being convicted, the men reportedly quoted from the Bible, and said they harbored no ill will towards the court.
As of Sept. 19, 251 Jehovah’s Witnesses are facing criminal charges in Russia. 41 are in either pretrial detention or prison, 23 are under house arrest, and over 100 face other restrictions on their freedom. Raids on the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses have increased to an average of 47.2 per month, up 100% from 2018.
Earlier this month, a Russian court sentenced Valeriy Moskalenko, a Jehovah’s Witness from Khabarovsk, to community service instead of prison time. Like the six men convicted today, he was accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization.
