Key facts
- Six Jehovah's Witnesses have been convicted of "extremist" activity in Russia.
- Two individuals received five-year prison sentences in a penal colony.
- Four other women received compulsory labor sentences of up to four years.
- The case relied on evidence from an FSB informant who infiltrated the group.
- The informant posed as a bereaved woman seeking religious comfort.
Six Jehovah's Witnesses have been convicted of "extremist" activity in Russia, with two individuals, Zaur Murtuzov and Darya Petrochenko, sentenced to five years in a penal colony and four other women receiving compulsory labor sentences of up to four years. The convictions were based on evidence gathered by an informant from Russia's FSB security service, who reportedly infiltrated the group by posing as a bereaved woman seeking religious comfort.
According to Jarrod Lopes, a spokesperson for the faith group, the informant spent two years cultivating relationships within the group, secretly recording conversations and providing them to the FSB. Petrochenko, before her sentencing, declared her innocence, stating she had genuinely sought to support someone experiencing loss and had caused no harm.
The Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian movement known for evangelism, have been banned in Russia as an "extremist organisation" since 2017. This ban has been ruled unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2022 and condemned by the U.N. Human Rights Committee. The group reports that 174 Witnesses, including 159 men and 15 women, are currently imprisoned in Russia.