The Russian court in Yalta sent three Jehovah’s Witnesses to prison
The Russian court in Yalta in the annexed Crimea sentenced four followers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses church to different terms, accused of participating in the organization and financing of an extremist community. Three of them were sent to the colony. This is reported by Krym.Realii with reference to the message of the Investigative Committee.
Three members of the community were sentenced to real terms from six years to six years and one month under the article on the organization of an extremist community. One more – to punishment in the form of three years of conditional imprisonment. The names of the convicted are not mentioned.
The Investigative Committee reported that the convicted believers were detained in March 2021. In the same month, the website “Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” reported the detention of Darya Kuzio, Taras Kuzio, Petr Zhiltsov and Sergey Lyulin. In January, the prosecutor asked them for 3.5 to 7.5 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony, apparently, today’s sentence has been passed in this case.
The Russian authorities have been persecuting Jehovah’s Witnesses since the mid-2010s, and in 2017 the Supreme Court banned their activities on the territory of Russia and declared them extremist. The decision was actively criticized by human rights groups and the international community, and in June the European Court of Human Rights found it inconsistent with Moscow’s obligations.
Hundreds of followers of the church were convicted under criminal articles on extremism in Russia, more than a hundred of them were sent to colonies.
