Nine men sentenced to prison in Russia's crackdown on Jehovah's Witnesses

Nine Jehovah's Witnesses have been convicted in Russia for practicing their religion, according to the church, marking the latest casualties in the Kremlin's ongoing crackdown on the Christian faith.

The nine men received sentences ranging from three to seven years in a penal colony on Tuesday by Judge Andrey Slavinskiy of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Irkutsk, situated in southern Russia near the Mongolian border, the Jehovah's Witnesses confirmed 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," remarked Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "Russia should immediately free these individuals, and all prisoners held for their religious and political beliefs."

Since its Supreme Court classified all activities of the Christian denomination as extremist in April 2017, Russia has detained Jehovah's Witnesses on charges related to their religious practices.

The nine men sentenced on Tuesday were implicated in a criminal case launched in October 2021 when Russian authorities raided 13 homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Irkutsk, during which some members were reportedly subjected to violence.

According to the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, initially, six men were detained and taken to a pre-trial detention center, while a seventh was placed under house arrest. Subsequently, two others were arrested in December 2021, the center noted.

Jarrod Lopes, spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses, disclosed to UPI in an emailed statement that the charges were predominantly based on clandestine recordings of their worship services. These recordings captured audio of the men praying, singing Christian hymns, and reading the Bible, including Psalm 34:14, which advocates for seeking peace.

"What does it say about a legal system that convicts people of extremist activity for reading a Bible verse that promotes peace?" queried Lopes. "It's patently absurd. It would be a joke if the consequences weren't so serious."

The defendants are identified as Yaroslav Kalin, 54, Sergey Kosteyev, 63, Nikolay Martynov, 65, Mikhail Moysh, 36, Aleksey Solnechniy, 47, Andrey Tolmachev, 49, Igor Popov, 36, Denis Sarazhakov, 35, and Sergei Vasiliyev, 72.

This development follows the sentencing of two Jehovah's Witnesses to two years of probation, as reported by the SOVA Center, and the recent eight-year sentence handed down to Alexander Chagan on similar charges.

"Russia's treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses is criminal," asserted Sam Brownback, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, in an online statement 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 faced imprisonment in Russia, with 128 currently incarcerated.