Eight of nine members of the Jehovah's Witnesses sentenced to prison on Tuesday are seen here posing for a photo in a Russian courtroom in April. Photo courtesy of Jehovah's Witnesses/
Release
March 6 (UPI) -- Nine Jehovah's Witnesses have been convicted in Russia in connection to practicing their religion, according to the church, making them the latest victims of the Kremlin's ongoing crackdown on the Christian faith.
The nine men were given sentences of between three and seven years in a penal colony on Tuesday by Judge Andrey Slavinskiy of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Irkutsk, which is located in southern Russian near the Mongolian border, the Jehovah's Witnesses said in a statement.
"Another senseless, monstrous series of prison sentences by Russian courts against Jehovah's Witnesses for doing nothing more than exercising their right to worship," Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said on X.
"Russia should immediately free these individuals, and all prisoners held for their religious and political beliefs."
Russia has been imprisoning members of the Jehovah's Witnesses on charges connected to practicing their religion since its Supreme Court criminalized all activity by the Christian denomination as extremist in April 2017.
The nine men sentenced Tuesday were charged in a criminal case initiated in October 2021 when Russian authorities raided 13 homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Irkutsk. The church said some of its members were beaten in the process.
According to the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, six men were initially taken into custody and sent to a pre-trial detention center, while a seventh was placed under house arrested. Then, two others were arrested in December 2021, the center said.
Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman Jarrod Lopes told UPI in an emailed statement that the charges were largely based on secret recordings of their worship services. The recordings captured audio of the men praying, signing Christian songs and reading the Bible, including Psalm 34:14, which states "Seek peace and pursue it."
"What does it say about a legal system that convicts people of extremist activity for reading a Bible verse that promotes peace," Lopes said. "It's patently absurd. It would be a joke if the consequences weren't so serious."
The defendants have been identified as Yaroslav Kalin, 54, Sergey Kosteyev, 63, Nikolay Martynov, 65, Mikhail Moysh, 36, Aleksey Solnechniy, 47, Andrey Tolmachev, 49, Igor Popov, 36, and Denis Sarazhakov, 35, and Sergei Vasiliyev, 72.
The announcement comes a day after two members of the Jehovah's Witnesses were sentence to two years probation, the SOVA Center said.
And late last month, Alexander Chagan was sentenced to eight years on similar charges.
"Russia's treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses is criminal," Sam Brownback, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said online following Tuesday's sentencing.
"Practicing one's faith and peaceful worship should never be a crime. #Russia should end this persecution immediately."
According to the church, 415 of its members have spent time behind Russian bars, including 128 currently in prison.
