MOSCOW (Reuters) A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced two Jehovah’s Witnesses to seven and eight years in jail on extremism charges, with the latter sentence the longest ever handed to one of the group’s adherents in the country.
The verdict, issued by a court in the far eastern city of Blagoveshchensk, comes amid an ongoing crackdown on the group, which Russia branded extremist and banned from operating in the country in 2017.
The defendants, identified by the group as Alexei Berchuk and Dmitry Golik, were found guilty of organising the activities of an extremist organisation. Both maintain their innocence and were under house arrest prior to their convictions.