Four Russian members of the Jehovah's Witnesses received stiff prison terms Monday in what the American-based movement calls the "longest, harshest" sentences imposed on its believers since the 2017 designation of the group as "extremists."
(RNS) Since April 2020, five men, including Vladimir Skachidub, have been convicted and imprisoned for practicing their faith in Russia’s Krasnodar Territory, where their religion is considered an extremist group.
(RNS) Three Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia were convicted and sentenced to prison for practicing their faith on Thursday (July 29). Vilen Avanesov, 68, was sentenced to six years, and his son Arsen Avanesov, 37, along with a third defendant, Aleksandr Parkov, 53, were both sentenced to six-and-a-half years. All three men have already spent more than two years in pretrial detention.
“These men should never, ever have had to spend a minute in prison, and yet they’ve been locked up for two years,” said Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. “It is never too late for Russian authorities to stop these arrests, release Jehovah’s witnesses who are behind bars, stop these criminal proceedings, and quash the convictions that have already taken place.”
The Witnesses were outlawed in Russia in 2017 when the nation’s supreme court declared the movement “extremist,” in the same category as the Islamic State terrorist organization. The religious group is apolitical and is noted for its pacifism and refusal of military service.
The three were “wrongly convicted and harshly sentenced to lengthy prison terms,” said Jarrod Lopes, a Jehovah’s Witness spokesman.
“Russian officials have not been inconspicuous about persecuting Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Mr. Lopes added. “Arrogantly and barbarically, Russian officers record themselves raiding the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses and forcibly arresting them. The footage is all over the internet and social media.”
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