Russia releases first Jehovah’s Witness imprisoned for ‘extremism’

A Danish adherent of the Jehovah’s Witnesses was released from a Russian prison on Tuesday after serving five years on extremism charges as part of Moscow’s crackdown on the religious group.

Dennis Christensen, a 49-year-old builder, was arrested at a prayer meeting in Oryol, 200 miles (320 km) south of Moscow, in 2017.

It was the first of dozens of arrests of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.

Russia’s Supreme Court banned Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist organisation in April 2017 and ordered it to disband nationwide.

The group has around 140,000 adherents in Russia, where the crackdown has seen dozens of adherents detained and hundreds facing charges.

In its original ruling, the Supreme Court cited what it called the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “propaganda of exclusivity” in ruling to ban the group and dissolve its organisations.

Christensen was sentenced to six years in prison in 2019, with two years deducted for time spent in pretrial detention.

He ultimately served five years of his sentence.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, a pacifist Christian group based in the United States, have long come under suspicion in Russia, where the Orthodox Church was championed by President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Orthodox Church has depicted the Jehovah’s Witnesses as a dangerous foreign sect, allegations the group denies.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe God is the Creator and Supreme Being.

Witnesses reject the Trinity doctrine, which they consider unscriptural. They view God as the Father, an invisible spirit “person” separate from the Son”, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is described as God’s “active force”, rather than the third part of the Trinity. They believe God is “infinite, but approachable”; he is not omnipresent, but has a location in heaven.

It is possible to have a personal relationship with him as a friend; he is kind and merciful, and would not eternally “torture” wicked people.

Being respectful of the principle of free will, he does not force his sovereignty on people, choosing to save only those who want to serve him, even though the course of mankind, in general, may lead them to harm. (Reuters/NAN)