(A Break from the "Music") WHAT THE UNJUST LABELING of BEING "EXTREMIST" HAS BROUGHT UPON INNOCENT SERVANTS OF JEHOVAH
Danish Jehovah’s Witness Arrested and Jailed in Russia After Police Raid a Christian Meeting
NEW
YORK—In the wake of the April 20, 2017, decision of the Supreme Court
of the Russian Federation against Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Danish citizen
was arrested along with Russian citizens at a peaceful worship service
disrupted by a police raid on the evening of May 25, 2017.
At
least 15 heavily armed police and Federal Security Service (FSB)
officers raided a peaceful religious service of Jehovah’s Witnesses in
the city of Oryol (also known as Orel), pictured above. The police
collected copies of the identification documents of all in attendance
and seized their electronic devices. The FSB also took into custody
Dennis Christensen, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses who is a Danish citizen.
Shortly thereafter, police officers searched four homes of Jehovah’s
Witnesses located throughout the city.
After
being detained overnight in FSB custody, today, the Soviet District
Court of Oryol granted the application of the FSB and ordered
Mr. Christensen to be jailed in pretrial detention pending completion of
the FSB criminal investigation. Mr. Christensen is the first foreigner
to be included in these official actions against Jehovah’s Witnesses in
Russia since the Russia Supreme Court decision. If convicted,
Mr. Christensen faces the possibility of a lengthy term of imprisonment.
This
raid is the latest of over 40 incidents of aggression against Jehovah’s
Witnesses perpetrated by authorities and others after the Russian
Supreme Court labelled them as extremists and liquidated the Witnesses’
Administrative Center in Russia along with 395 Local Religious
Organizations they used throughout the country.
Just hours after the Supreme Court issued its decision
on April 20, a group of men in St. Petersburg vandalized the largest
place of worship used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, even threatening
the worshippers. Vandals have also targeted other places of worship and
even homes of Witnesses in Kaliningrad, Moscow, Penza, Rostov, St.
Petersburg, Sverdlovsk, Voronezh, and Krasnoyarsk. In one incident, on
May 24, 2017, in the town of Zheshart in the Komi Republic, a house
where meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses used to be held was badly damaged
in an arson attack. In addition to police raids and vandalism,
individual Witnesses have been attacked, threatened at school and work,
or lost their jobs.
David A.
Semonian, a spokesman at the Witnesses’ world headquarters, states:
“Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world are now even more concerned about
our fellow worshippers in Russia. These disturbing events are clearly
aftereffects of the Russian Supreme Court’s unjust decision against us.
We have formally appealed this decision on May 19, 2017. This will give
Russia another opportunity to end these unwarranted and unjustifiable
actions against Jehovah’s Witnesses. We are also filing a complaint
against the unjust imprisonment of our fellow worshipper, Dennis
Christensen.”
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/danish-jw-arrested-when-police-raid-christian-meeting/
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/danish-jw-arrested-when-police-raid-christian-meeting/