The European Court of Human Rights declared illegal the ban in the Russian Federation of the religious organization Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as the persecution of believers.
The court ruled that the Russian Federation should stop the current criminal cases against people involved in the organization Jehovah's Witnesses and release the imprisoned believers. Moreover, Russia must return seized property to believers or pay more than 59.6 million euros in compensation.
We remin you that after the occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation actively practices religious persecution on the peninsula. The occupiers systematically detain and sentence to long terms people who are involved in participation in the organizations banned in the Russian Federation Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jehovah's Witnesses. Also, the Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea of the OCU Klyment is subjected to systematic repression.
According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, 12 people in the occupied region are being persecuted in the so-called case of Jehovah's Witnesses:
Dmytro Barmakin
Serhii Filatov
Artem Herasymov
Taras Kuzio
Viktor Stashevskyy
Artem Shabliii
Yevhen Zhukov
Volodymyr Molodyka
Volodymyr Sakada
Ihor Schmiedt
Daria Kuzio
Petro Zhyltsov
In total, according to the CTRC, there are 243 political prisoners and those prosecuted in criminal cases for the period of the occupation of Crimea. Of these, 90 people are in colonies in the Russian Federation. There are 39 people in the pre-trial detention center, 50 people have been released. 32 people are being persecuted.