Russia Raids 110 Jehovah's Witness Homes: Group

Moscow, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Jul, 2020 ) :Russian investigators and law enforcement agents have raided 110 homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in the country's south, the group said Tuesday.

The searches took place Monday in the Voronezh region and were the biggest number of raids conducted in one day on Jehovah's Witnesses in recent years, the religious movement said.

At least two people were beaten, said spokesman Jarrod Lopes, citing preliminary information from members of the group.

"Some Witnesses reported that when the officers stormed into their houses to conduct the searches, they would force people to the ground and press their faces to the floor," the movement charged.

In 2017, Russia listed the group as an extremist organisation, and has since sentenced several members to prison, notably Dennis Christensen, a Dane who was given a six-year term in February 2019.

Lopes said the crackdown in Russia had intensified since June.

Russia's Investigative Committee said Monday that it had opened two criminal probes against 10 Jehovah's Witnesses in the Voronezh region aged 24-56.

During the raids, investigators and members of the Russian Guard seized "banned" literature, the Investigative Committee said.