More than 50 Jehovah's Witnesses are imprisoned - an anti-record of being persecuted for practicing one's faith

Bis zum 26. Februar 2021 erreichte die Zahl der Zeugen Jehovas, die sich gleichzeitig in russischen Kolonien und Untersuchungshaftanstalten befinden, 51. In nur 3,5 Jahren nach der Entscheidung des Obersten Gerichtshofs, 396 juristische Personen dieser Konfession im Land zu liquidieren, starben 230 Personen durch Orte der Inhaftierung.

Currently, 9 believers from 4 regions are serving their sentences in colonies, 39 more people from 16 regions are awaiting sentences while in jail. On February 24, Valentina Baranovskaya, a 70-year-old believer from Abakan, suffered a stroke as a result of criminal prosecution, and her 46-year-old son Roman became the 50th and 51st prisoners of conscience sent to jail for confessing the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses. They were taken into custody right in the courtroom after the sentencing - Roman is 6 years old, Valentina - 2 years in prison. On the same day, they were sent to a pre-trial detention center, from where they will be transferred to a colony, if the Supreme Court of the Republic of Khakassia does not change the sentence.

While behind bars, Russian believers have repeatedly faced inhuman treatment: they were beaten and tortured, deprived of medical care; they were unjustifiably placed in punishment cells and solitary confinement cells, deprived of the right of correspondence and even citizenship. For example, five believers from Saratov were severely beaten upon admission to Correctional Colony No. 1 in Orenburg. One of them, Felix Makhammadiyev, was hospitalized with serious injuries. Later, his citizenship was revoked and, after his release from the colony, he was deported to his country of birth, Uzbekistan. Konstantin Bazhenov also lost his citizenship.

The health of Kursk resident Artyom Bagratyan in the pre-trial detention center has deteriorated sharply, approaching critical in January 2020. On January 27, he was finally transferred from the Kursk SIZO to a hospital for examination, and his relatives were allowed to provide him with the necessary medicines. Bagratyan, who suffers from serious chronic diseases, is still behind bars.

Nikolai Kuzichkin, 69, with cancer, heart problems and a number of other serious diagnoses, spent six months in a pre-trial detention center without medical care.

A resident of Chekhov near Moscow, Yuri Krutyakov, who has been imprisoned since March 2020 and is rapidly losing his sight, is also denied proper treatment in a pre-trial detention center.

Dennis Christensen, the first prisoner of conscience from Jehovah's Witnesses in modern Russia, who is serving a sentence in Lgov, was forced by the colony administration to perform work that was contraindicated for him for medical reasons. He was repeatedly sent to the punishment cell for formal reasons such as improper dress code. Until now, he is in a special block together with those who maliciously violate the regime of the colony.

Some believers spent significant periods in the pre-trial detention center. Yuri Savelyev, 66, has been held in Novosibirsk pre-trial detention center # 1 for more than two years.

Vadim Levchuk and Sergei Britvin were detained for 524 days, and later the court sentenced them to four years in prison.

The circumstances of believers in Russian colonies are covered in more detail in the section “Life in a colony”.

The international and Russian human rights communities consider what is happening to Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia to be nothing more than repression on religious grounds, since there is no evidence that any of the prisoners have committed a real crime.