As the fratricidal war in Ukraine continues, so does the war between Russia and Jehovah's Witnesses. The two events are not comparable, on the one hand you die, on the other you go to jail. But in the long run, the latter proves more dangerous and harmful, because what is dying is freedom of belief, the freedom to be what one wants to be, and this would be the end of all individuality and all freedom.
Despite the Russian Supreme Court having upheld the legality of Jehovah's Witnesses' group prayers, creating a breach in Article 282.2 of the controversial Yarovaya Law, and despite several ECHR rulings in favor of Jehovah's Witnesses that ordered Russia to pay substantial compensation both in 2022, Cheprunovy and Others v. Russia (Application No. 74320/10) and Zharinova v. Russia (Application No. 17715/12), and in 2023, the systematic persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses continues with draconian accusations worthy of a new Spanish Inquisition. Ten Jehovah's Witnesses are now on trial accused of holding religious meetings, speeches and worship services, including via Zoom.
Four to seven years of detention against 10 Jehovah’s Witnesses requested by the prosecution in Russia
By Willy Fautré, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers — On August 6, 2025, during a debate in the Komsomolsky District Court of the Khabarovsk Territory, the prosecutor requested punishment of 10 Jehovah’s Witnesses. Believers Mikhail Dorofeev, Nikolai Kovadnev and Radion Shitov, accused under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization), the prosecutor asked to impose seven years in prison, and the rest of the defendants in the case – spouses Ulita and Sergei Sachnev, Irina Bondareva and her son Vasily, Marina Voitko, Ivan Nikitin and Svetlana Zharkova – four years of imprisonment under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization).
The 10 Jehovah’s Witnesses prosecutes
The criminal case was initiated on May 4, 2023. On May 25 of the same year, mass searches of Jehovah’s Witnesses were carried out in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. According to the investigation, believers held religious meetings, speeches and worship services – including with the help of Zoom. The case was submitted to the court in October 2024.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are accused of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization due to the fact that in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia decided to recognize the Management Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations as extremist.
This decision, which entailed mass persecution of believers under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, had no legal grounds, and it is to be regarded as a manifestation of religious discrimination. In June 2022, the ECHR issued an order on the complaint of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in which they recognized that the prohibition of their materials and organizations and the persecution of believers contradict the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and demanded to stop criminal cases under Art. 282.2 Criminal Code against Jehovah’s Witnesses and release the believers in prison.
Source: The European Times
