The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that Jehovah's Witnesses have the right to practice their religion in groups. Why then are there dozens of believers that are imprisoned?

“Members of a liquidated organization may worship independently, including as part of religious groups that do not require registration...” the Russian Foreign Ministry response, dated 20 February 2021, reads. “

"During the consideration of the case [in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation], neither the legality of the religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor the ways of expressing them, but only the specific illegal actions of the organization in question, were assessed."

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This explanation was sent to Irina Yakku from Arkhangelsk. In her letter to Sergey Lavrov, she asked the respected minister to help restore international law and comply with Article 28 of the Russian Constitution: "Since February 2019, our family has not been spared persecution for faith. On February 13, 2019, a criminal case was opened against my husband, Yevgeniy Yakku, just for discussing the Bible with friends and praying. And there are already hundreds of such criminal cases in our country. More than a thousand searches have been carried out at the homes of innocent people just because they believe in Jehovah God, whose name is repeatedly mentioned in various translations of the Bible." The investigation considers the very fact that Yevgeny Yakku discusses his religious views with his friends in faith sufficient to initiate a criminal case under the articles on organizing the activities of an extremist organization and on participation in it. His case is being heard in the Solombalsky District Court of Arkhangelsk.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its response refers to the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2017, on the liquidation and prohibition of the activities of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations of this denomination. It was this decision, which in itself was unjust, that was misinterpreted by law enforcement officials that led to large-scale religious repression. Russian courts have consistently convicted ordinary Jehovah's Witnesses believers under serious criminal articles only on the fact of their personal confession of religion. At the same time, neither the state prosecution nor the courts set themselves the task of detecting signs of extremist activity in the words and deeds of believers. Since the Supreme Court's decision to ban Jehovah's Witnesses' legal entities in Russia came into force, 1318 searches have already been conducted in the country. Charges under the "extremist" article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation have already been brought against 438 believers. As of February 20, 2021, 80 criminal cases are still at various stages of trial, 26 sentences have already entered into force, 9 believers are being held in colonies, 39 people are in pre-trial detention centers, and 26 are under house arrest.

Yaroslav Sivulskiy of the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses says, "There is an obvious conflict between the law and law enforcement practices, and it is no surprise that in January 2021, following his last meeting with the Human Rights Council, President Putin instructed the Supreme Court to look into violations of legislation on freedom of conscience, religious beliefs, and religious associations.” Human rights activist Aleksandr Verkhovskiy drew the President's attention to the fact that the problem is not being solved. He said: "We miss the Supreme Court's explanations on these issues. This is especially true with respect to those banned organizations which had some religious aspect. It turns out that these people afterward when they gather to pray together, which is mandatory in all major religions, joint prayers, will also turn out to be a meeting of a banned organization, and so maybe understood."

Russian human rights organizations, as well as the international community, consider the criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia unlawful. The Russian government has repeatedly stated that decisions of Russian courts to liquidate and ban Jehovah's Witnesses organizations "do not assess the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor do they contain a restriction or ban on the individual practice of the aforementioned doctrine.