Govt imprisons 17 Jehovah's Witnesses, wives beg for husbands' release

World Religion News reports that dozens of members of the religious group have been imprisoned for private worship since the Russian Supreme Court banned Jehovah's Witnesses in 2017.

On June 8, 2018, 10 of the wives of the imprisoned men issued an open letter to Mikhail Fedotov, an adviser to President Putin and chairman of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.

Referring to their statement as a "cry of desperation," the wives wrote: "People who are very dear to us, our husbands, those who feed us, the fathers of our children, peaceable, honest people, who are always ready to help others, are being thrown behind bars for being suspected of reading Bible commandments and praying together with us and our children to the God whose name, as recorded in the Bible, is Jehovah.

"…The law-enforcement agencies that are persecuting our husbands for their faith in God explain that it is because of the April 20, 2017 decision of the Russian Federation Supreme Court to liquidate all legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. However, both the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice, during the hearing at the Supreme Court, and the Russian Federation Government, after the decision was handed down, officially stated that the court's decision would not result in any violations of the rights of citizens to freedom of worship. The aforementioned decision of the Supreme Court did not ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. It only involved legal entities. So why are the law-enforcement agents acting in contravention of the will of the government of our country?

"…We are not asking for any special privileges. We are asking for just one thing - please, defend our rights. Honorable members of the Council!"

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Religious Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses

Meanwhile, members of this religious group are also suffering in other countries like Eritrea, a country in East Africa.

According to Newsweek, about 53 Jehovah's Witnesses are currently in prison while others have even died as a result of poor treatment in prison.

"In February several NGOs [non-government organizations] reported Tsehaye Tesfamariam, a Jehovah's Witness arrested in 2009 and imprisoned at the Me'eter Prison Camp until 2015, died in November 2016 from an illness contracted in prison that authorities reportedly refused to treat," the State Department report said.

"Most places of worship unaffiliated with the four registered religious groups remained closed, but many of those buildings were protected and undamaged. Jehovah's Witnesses, who were stripped of citizenship in 1994 due to their refusal to vote in the independence referendum, were largely unable to obtain official identification documents," it also noted.