The court in Irkutsk sentenced 9 Jehovah’s Witnesses to real terms

The October District Court of Irkutsk sentenced 9 members of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They were sentenced to 7 to 3 years in prison, reports Sibir.Realii with reference to the regional prosecutor’s office.

Six believers were found guilty of financing extremist activities and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Two more were found guilty under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist association — they were sentenced to 6 years and 4 months in prison. The ninth believer was found guilty under the article of participation in a prohibited organization and was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

This group of believers was detained in 2021. According to relatives, they were badly beaten, one of them was threatened with rape by the police.

• The Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia. Her parishioners are regularly arrested and sent to colonies. More than 450 people were convicted, almost 800 people were suspected and accused.
• In June 2022, the ECtHR recognized the prohibition of materials, parishes, and believers of Jehovah’s Witnesses as contrary to the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights, and demanded that the criminal cases be terminated and the prisoners released. By that time, Moscow had announced that it would not comply with the court’s decision due to the exclusion of Russia from the Council of Europe for its invasion of Ukraine.