CrimeaSOS: approximately every eighth victim of persecution in Crimea is a Jehovah’s Witness

Approximately every eighth victim of politically motivated persecution in Crimea is a Jehovah’s Witness. CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko reported this in a comment to Krym.Realii. 

“As of today, among the victims of politically motivated criminal prosecutions in the occupied Crimea, approximately one in eight is a Jehovah’s Witness, a total of 19 people”, — said Yevhenii Yaroshenko.

Since the beginning of the occupation of Crimea, russia has been violating fundamental human rights, including freedom of religion. Persecution of representatives of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” organization can be considered as a crime against humanity.

“There is a question whether the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses falls under crimes against humanity in the sense of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. One of the types of crimes against humanity is the persecution of an identified group on religious grounds, if it is of a large-scale or systematic nature”, —the analyst explained.

In 2017, the supreme court of russia recognized the religious organization “Jehovah’s Witnesses” as extremist and banned its activities in the russian federation and in the occupied Crimea. The activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses are allowed in the absolute majority of countries in the world.

In 5 years, 10 residents of the occupied Crimea received a guilty verdict. Nine of them were imprisoned for a total of 54 years and 6 months.