Russia Intensifies Crackdown on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Crimea and Across Russia

Russia’s persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses is continuing in occupied Crimea and elsewhere in the Russian Federation, according to a report by the Crimean Human Rights Group. The group said at least 14 Jehovah’s Witnesses were convicted in Crimea between July and September 2025, with raids, detentions and harsh sentences handed down by occupation “courts.” Among the recent cases is the six-year sentence of Viktor Urs and the prosecution of 70-year-old Tamara Brattseva. Her lawyer said her only “guilt” was praying and reading the Bible. Ukraine has called on the international community to condemn these violations and to demand the release of all detainees.

The Crimean Tatar Resource Center reports that 33 Jehovah’s Witnesses are currently being prosecuted in occupied Crimea, and that 14 are imprisoned in penal colonies. The center describes this as illegal persecution. The situation persists despite a 2022 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, which ordered Russia to drop all criminal cases against the Witnesses, free detainees and return confiscated property.

Across Russia, the source says, persecution has intensified since a nationwide ban on the denomination was imposed in 2017. Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses have reportedly been subjected to raids, detentions and long prison terms for what the source describes as peaceful religious activity. As of September 2025, 157 Jehovah’s Witnesses remain behind bars, according to the report.

International bodies have responded. The European Court of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee and the Council of Europe have repeatedly condemned Russia’s actions, citing violations of freedom of religion and of international humanitarian law. The report also characterizes the continued prosecution of worship as showing a systematic pattern of repression of religious communities in both occupied territories and Russia itself. The Bible reference in the Brattseva case points to a call to protect the vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Source: Read the original report