{"id":8496,"date":"2024-01-31T09:35:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T07:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/?p=8496"},"modified":"2024-01-31T09:36:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T07:36:01","slug":"russia-seven-years-in-prison-for-four-jehovahs-witnesses-for-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/russia-seven-years-in-prison-for-four-jehovahs-witnesses-for-extremism\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia: Seven years in prison for four Jehovah’s witnesses for extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Russian\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0court<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0has sentenced four\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Jehovah<\/span><\/strong>‘s <\/span>Witnesses to\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>seven\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>years<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0in prison\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0each\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0for coordinating\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>extremist\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>activities<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0, according to the religious group’s spokesman\u00a0<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Religious life in Russia is determined by the Orthodox Church, which is supported by Putin, resulting in Jehovah’s Witnesses being treated as a “totalitarian heresy”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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”\u00a0\u00a0Russia<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0continues to shamelessly abuse\u00a0 its\u00a0anti<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0extremism<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0laws to ban,\u00a0\u00a0imprison<\/strong> \u00a0and at times abuse and torture\u00a0 Jehovah’s\u00a0 Witnesses ,\u00a0<\/strong>“<\/strong>\u00a0spokesman\u00a0\u00a0Jarrod\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Lopez<\/strong>\u00a0told Reuters by email.<\/p>\n

Aram\u00a0\u00a0Danielian<\/strong>\u00a0,\u00a0\u00a0Denis\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Kuzyanin<\/strong>,\u00a0\u00a0Sergey\u00a0<\/strong>Poloshenko<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0Nikolai\u00a0<\/strong>Vasiliev<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0were indicted based on\u00a0\u00a0secret recordings of church services<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0private\u00a0<\/strong>conversations<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0about their faith, as well as “electronic evidence” that, according to Lopez\u00a0\u00a0,\u00a0<\/strong>was<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0placed on a computer belonging to a accused by an\u00a0\u00a0“FSB technician”<\/strong>\u00a0during an investigation.<\/p>\n

Lopez added that those convicted are expected to appeal the\u00a0\u00a0decision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In another case, a\u00a0\u00a0woman<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0in the nearby city of\u00a0\u00a0Tolyatti<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0was sentenced to\u00a0\u00a0two years of hard labor<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0on the same charge on Jan. 24, the same day the four men were sentenced, according to the religious group’s Russian website.<\/p>\n

Since 2017<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0Russia’s\u00a0\u00a0Supreme\u00a0\u00a0Court\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0in<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a02017\u00a0\u00a0labeled<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Jehovah’s Witnesses an ”\u00a0extremist\u00a0<\/strong>organization<\/strong>\u00a0,” disbanding and banning some\u00a0\u00a0400 branches of the religious\u00a0<\/strong>group<\/strong>\u00a0across the country.<\/p>\n

Since then raids,\u00a0\u00a0interrogations<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0imprisonments\u00a0<\/strong>of<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0followers of the religious group, which numbered about\u00a0\u00a0175,000 active believers<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0at the time it\u00a0\u00a0was\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0outlawed<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0, according to the\u00a0\u00a0Russian\u00a0<\/strong>website of\u00a0<\/strong>Jehovah<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0‘s Witnesses\u00a0\u00a0, have been carried out systematically in Russia.<\/p>\n

Russian officials<\/strong>\u00a0have in the past denied accusations of\u00a0\u00a0abusing<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0or\u00a0\u00a0torturing<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Jehovah\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0‘s\u00a0\u00a0Witnesses<\/strong>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

About\u00a0\u00a0790 members of the religious group<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0have been criminally charged or are being investigated for their faith, while\u00a0\u00a0147 were convicted last year<\/strong>\u00a0, Lopez said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

” Russia<\/strong>\u00a0‘s legal system\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0has become a temple that proclaims the\u00a0\u00a0hatred<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a0extremism<\/strong>\u00a0,” he said.<\/p>\n

Religious life in Russia is governed by the Orthodox Church, which is supported by President\u00a0\u00a0Vladimir\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Putin<\/strong>\u00a0.\u00a0Some\u00a0\u00a0Orthodox priests see\u00a0<\/strong>Jehovah<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0‘s Witnesses\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0as a “totalitarian sect”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Russian\u00a0\u00a0court\u00a0\u00a0has sentenced four\u00a0\u00a0Jehovah‘s Witnesses to\u00a0seven\u00a0years\u00a0\u00a0in prison\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0each\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0for coordinating\u00a0\u00a0extremist\u00a0activities\u00a0, according to the religious group’s spokesman\u00a0. ”\u00a0\u00a0Russia\u00a0\u00a0continues to shamelessly abuse\u00a0 its\u00a0anti\u00a0–\u00a0extremism\u00a0\u00a0laws to ban,\u00a0\u00a0imprison \u00a0and at times abuse and torture\u00a0 Jehovah’s\u00a0 Witnesses ,\u00a0“\u00a0spokesman\u00a0\u00a0Jarrod\u00a0\u00a0Lopez\u00a0told Reuters by email. Aram\u00a0\u00a0Danielian\u00a0,\u00a0\u00a0Denis\u00a0\u00a0Kuzyanin,\u00a0\u00a0Sergey\u00a0Poloshenko\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0Nikolai\u00a0Vasiliev\u00a0\u00a0were indicted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8499,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8496\/revisions\/8499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}