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Four Jehovah's Witnesses Sentenced To Prison In Russia


Russia banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2017 and designated the religion an extremist organization. (file photo)
Russia banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2017 and designated the religion an extremist organization. (file photo)

A court in the Russian city of Birobidzhan on December 19 sentenced four Jehovah’s Witnesses to between 3 1/2 and seven years in prison for reading and discussing the Bible, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said. They were convicted after a 2018 mass operation in which Russian authorities raided 22 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Russia banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2017 and designated the religion an extremist organization. Jarrod Lopes, a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, said in a statement that it was “unthinkable” that peaceful Christian men would be accused of extremist activity and given harsh prison sentences. To read the original story from AP, click here.

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