Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 17 – Moscow’s continuing crackdown on the Jehovah’s Witnesses has led to charges against them in 70 of Russia’s 83 federal subjects, according to the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses. That in itself represents an unintended sign of the strength and breadth of this denomination in Russia today.
As of now, 583 of the members of this denomination have been subject to criminal prosecution since Moscow banned the organization in 2017. Of these, 121 cases were brought in 2021, down sightly from the 146 in 2020. But more sentences are being handed down, 105 in 2021 as against 39 in 20 (sova-center.ru/religion/news/harassment/intervention/2021/12/d45494/).
In the last year, 29 Witnesses have been sentenced to real terms behind bars, 64 to suspended terms, nine to fines, one exonerated and one not sentenced because he died before it could be handed down. The length of sentences has increased as well, with some Witnesses now being sentenced to as much as eight years in prison for their faith.
At present, 76 Witnesses are in the camps or in preliminary detention centers. Since May of 2017, 314 of them have passed through those institutions.
In addition to court cases, the Witnesses are being subject to a massive number of searches and other forms of harassment. Since 2017, they have been victims of 1648 searches, 370 of which have come in the last year alone.
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