Archive · 1 Sep 2026
Six Jehovah’s Witnesses Sentenced in Russia After Informant Evidence
Russia banned Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist organization in 2017.
Six members of the group were recently convicted of extremist activity.
Two of them were given five years in a penal colony.
Four women were given compulsory labor sentences of up to four years.
The group says a woman pretended to need religious comfort after losing someone.
It says she secretly recorded conversations and gave them to Russia’s security service.
One convicted woman said she only wanted to help and had done nothing harmful.
A European court and a United Nations committee have criticized or rejected the ban.
Six Jehovah’s Witnesses were convicted of extremist activity in Russia.
Zaur Murtuzov and Darya Petrochenko each received five-year penal-colony sentences.
Four other women were sentenced to compulsory labor for up to four years.
The faith group says an informant posed as a bereaved woman and secretly recorded believers for the FSB.
Russia’s 2017 ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses was ruled unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2022.
- Who
- Six Jehovah’s Witnesses, including Zaur Murtuzov and Darya Petrochenko, were convicted.
- What
- They were sentenced for alleged extremist activity.
- When
- The convictions and sentences were reported on September 1; two defendants were sentenced the previous week.
- Where
- Russia.
- Why
- The Jehovah’s Witnesses say the case relied on testimony and recordings collected by an informant working for the FSB.
- Number convicted
- Six Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Penal-colony sentences
- Zaur Murtuzov and Darya Petrochenko each received five years.
- Compulsory labor sentences
- Four women received sentences of up to four years.
- Russia’s ban
- Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned as an extremist organization in 2017.
- European court ruling
- The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2022 that the ban was unlawful.
- Reported imprisoned Witnesses
- The group says 174 Witnesses are currently imprisoned in Russia: 159 men and 15 women.