In more than 600 days has Dennis Christensen sat in a Russian prison.
In may 2017, he was arrested by masked Russian agents, because he is a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
It was a month before made illegal, as Russia’s supreme court 20. april decided that Jehovah’s Witnesses should be described as an extreme religious grouping.
And it has had serious consequences for the Danish Dennis Christensen.
the Trial against him is right now in time, and the prosecution did it in the last week aware, that they desired that the dane was sentenced to six years and six months in prison.
But in the middle of the trial, he has gotten an unexpected boost from none other than Vladimir Putin.
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Irina Christensen supports her husband in front of the courthouse. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Osborn
In a meeting with Yekaterina Shulman, who is a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, received the Russian president to know that 404 out of 489 on the Russian list of persons from an extreme religious grouping is from the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
And it came behind the president, who with his response gave hope to the accused dane.
– We need to treat representatives from religions similar, but it is also important to take into account the society and country we live in. But this does not, of course, that we need to stamp the members of religious communities, as members of the destructive terrorist organizations. This is complete nonsense, and must be improved immediately.
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The building where Dennis Christensen has been held for nearly two years. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Osborn
– Jehovah’s Witnesses are also christian people, so I do not quite understand why they are being prosecuted. We must have looked at, he said, according to the Washington Post on the meeting.
the 46-year-old Dennis Christensen explained for the last time in court 28. January, and it is expected that the falling judgment on Wednesday, 6. February.
the Dane is the first who has been arrested in connection with practicing an illegal religion, and therefore many people’s eyes, directed at precisely the judgment.
according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses 175.000 members in Russia.
In a press release from 2017, wrote the Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves, that the Danish man and several other members were raided by up to 15 heavily armed and masked agents from the FSB (the federal security service of Russia – formerly known as the KGB red.) in the Russian city of Oryol, near the border with Ukraine.
– at Least 15 heavily armed police-people and people from the FSB raided a peaceful religious event in the city of Oryol. Police took copies of everyone’s documents and confiscated all electronic devices. In addition, selected police to arrest a Danish citizen, wrote of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a press release.
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Photo credit: REUTERS/Andrew Osborn
Lawyer Yaroslav Sivulsky told, according to USA Today, at the same time, that the reason for the dane’s arrest is that he was the only one who read aloud from the bible, when the police arrived.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has previously expressed concerns that the russians have decided to make it illegal to be a part of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
It has been described here in the New York Times.
Vladimir Putin in a meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Photo: Ritzau Scanpix
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