"Memorial" recognized 29 Jehovah's witnesses with political prisoners

The Memorial human rights center recognized 29 supporters of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses accused of extremism, and urged them to free them immediately.

On April 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia decided to recognize the managerial center of Jehovah's Witnesses with an extremist organization. Since that time, according to the Memorial, 39 supporters of the religious organization were criminalized. 29 of them, a preventive measure associated with the restriction of freedom was chosen: 23 people are in jail, the rest - under house arrest.

Most of the arrested charges were charged under the article "Organization of the activities of a religious organization in respect of which a decision was made to liquidate in connection with the implementation of extremist activities." The maximum term of imprisonment under this article is 10 years.

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The Memorial separately notes that in the decision of the Supreme Court, there is not a single fact of violation by believers of public order, manifestation of aggression or violence on their part, evidence that their activities threatened the security of the Russian Federation. "

The only action of Jehovah's witnesses, which was declared "extremist" by the court is the spread of religious literature prohibited by Russian courts. However, these prohibitions, as noted by the "memorial", "were based on the attributing of Jehovah's witnesses to exciting religious growth in connection with their confidence in the correctness of their faith, which is the natural property of any religion."