![]() Andrzej Oniszczuk, a Polish citizen, spent 344 days in pretrial detention in Kirov, until his release in September 2019, pending trial. Since the crackdown began in 2017, almost 150 people have spent time in pretrial custody, 41 for six months or more, according to data provided by the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization. At least 23 of those under criminal investigation remain in pretrial detention. In late December, 12 people were released from pretrial detention pending trial, including two people who had been detained for 521 days. In many cases, including those Human Rights Watch documented, the authorities had been conducting surveillance on people for months, including recording or photographing them at prayer meetings, praying, singing, or reading. They confiscated Bibles and other religious materials, computers, phones, and other personal items and rounded up residents for questioning. Local police carried out the house raids, often with armed and masked Rosgvardia (National Guard) personnel, special rapid reaction police, and Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. 282.2 of the criminal code, for either organizing or participating in the activities of an organization banned by a court as “extremist.” Most targeted are middle-aged, although ages have ranged from an 89-year-old woman named as a suspect in a December 2019 criminal investigation in Stavropol region and an 85-year-old woman on trial in Vladivostok to a 19-year-old woman in Sverdlovsk region charged in May 2019. Most of those targeted are men, though at least 39 women have faced charges. He said he was not aware of the Jehovah’s Witnesses prosecutions and that he would speak with the chair of Russia’s Supreme Court to analyze the matter. In his December 2018 meeting with the Presidential Human Rights Council, Putin said that people of all faiths should be treated equally, and that it was “nonsense” to treat people who practice faiths that are not “traditional” for Russia like members of “destructive” organizations. They should allow Jehovah’s Witnesses to freely practice their faith. Russian authorities should reverse the ban on the organization’s activities and remove the “extremist” designation, Human Rights Watch said. The ruling blatantly violates Russia’s obligations to respect and protect religious freedom and freedom of association, Human Rights Watch said. ![]() It declared the Jehovah’s Witnesses Administrative Center, the head office for 395 Jehovah’s Witnesses branches throughout Russia, an extremist organization and ruled that all branches should be shut down. The raids and arrests stem from an April 2017 Russian Supreme Court ruling that banned all Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations in Russia. Human Rights Watch also reviewed court verdicts and other documents, media reports, and Russian government statements. Human Rights Watch interviewed two lawyers defending Jehovah’s Witnesses in numerous regions, and the spouses of seven men convicted or facing charges of engaging in Jehovah’s Witnesses activity. Russian authorities should release detained Jehovah’s Witnesses immediately, drop any outstanding charges, expunge all related criminal records, and halt their persecution, Human Rights Watch said. It’s time for President Putin to ensure that law enforcement stop this harmful persecution.” “There is nothing remotely justifiable about this. “For Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, practicing their faith means risking their freedom,” said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Verdicts are expected in several cases later in January. Courts convicted 18 people in 2019, nine of whom received prison sentences ranging from two to six years, for such activities as leading or participating in prayer meetings. Authorities have carried out at least 780 house raids since 2017 in more than 70 towns and cities across Russia, more than half of them in 2019. About two-thirds of them found out about their status as suspect or accused in 2019. One year after President Vladimir Putin said that the crackdown against them should be “looked into,” the numbers of house raids and people under criminal investigation have more than doubled, and 32 Jehovah’s Witnesses worshipers are behind bars for peacefully practicing their faith.Īt least 313 people are facing charges, are on trial, or have been convicted of criminal “extremism” for engaging in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activities, or are suspects in such cases. (Moscow) – Law enforcement authorities across Russia have dramatically escalated the nationwide persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the past 12 months, Human Rights Watch said today. Nadezhda German, who spoke to Human Rights Watch about the imprisonment of her husband, and their treatment by officials, because they are Jehovah Witnesses.
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