Russia jails Jehovah’s Witness follower for six years on extremism charge

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court sentenced a Jehovah’s Witness
adherent on Tuesday to six years in jail on a charge of organising
an extremist group, said the Investigative Committee, which handles
major crimes.

Russia has targeted followers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a
denomination of Christianity, since a 2017 ruling by the Supreme
Court declared the group an extremist organisation and ordered it
to be disbanded.

Sergey Klimov, 49, was head of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the
Siberian city of Tomsk, the Investigative Committee said in a
statement.

He is the eighth Jehovah’s Witness member to receive a prison
sentence since the law came into effect, the group said. A total
284 adherents are under investigation, of whom 46 are in detention
and 23 are under house arrest.

Six Jehovah’s Witness followers were jailed in late September
for extremism, receiving jail sentences of between two and
three-and-a-half years, while a Danish builder, Dennis Christensen,
was sentenced to six years in February.

284 adherents are under investigation, with 46 being held in
detention and 23 under house arrest

The U.S.-headquartered Jehovah’s Witnesses have been under
pressure for years in Russia, where the dominant Orthodox Church is
championed by President Vladimir Putin.

Orthodox scholars have cast them as a dangerous foreign sect
that erodes state institutions and traditional values, allegations
they reject.