Persecution in Russia and Kazakhstan worsens for Jehovah’s Witnesses
Since the Russian Supreme Court labeled Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist group, vandals have targeted followers and their bank accounts have been frozen. People have thrown stones at a St. Petersburg assembly hall and tried to burn the Moscow home of a Jehovah’s Witness to the ground, a church spokesman said.
The ruling seems to have emboldened those who resent and fear the Witnesses, a religious minority that upholds pacifism, eschews military service, and has suffered more than most in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where the Russian Orthodox Church enjoys the backing of the state.
“We were hoping the court would realize that we are not a threat,” said Robert Warren, a spokesman for the Witnesses based in their New York world headquarters. “But now the environment is worse than ever.”
