RUSSIA STARTS CRACKDOWN VS. JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Masked law enforcement officers carried out mass raids on the Jehovah's Witnesses across Russia, and made a number of arrests as part of a new criminal case against the group, the Investigative Committee told Alexander Marrow and Maxim Rodionov of Reuters.

The law enforcement agency said it had opened an investigation as it suspected the Christian denomination was organizing the activity in Moscow of its national center and affiliates. Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a spokesman for the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, denied the center had resumed its activity and said the group was being targeted in a campaign of persecution.

Russia's Supreme Court ordered the Jehovah's Witnesses to disband in 2017 after labelling it extremist, and some of its adherents have since been jailed or hit with criminal charges in a crackdown. The agency said it had identified a number of group organizers and followers and had taken them into custody as part of its investigation. It said in a statement that searches had been carried out in more than 20 regions.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have been under pressure for years in Russia where the Orthodox Church championed by President Vladimir Putin is dominant. Putin said in 2018 that he did not understand why authorities were pursuing the group and called for the matter to be analyzed. Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian denomination known for door-to-door preaching, close Bible study, and rejection of military service and blood transfusions.