Leader of Novosibirsk cell of Jehovah’s Witnesses, banned in Russia, jailed for six years

The Leninsky District Court of Novosibirsk has sentenced the leader of the local unit of Jehovah’s Witnesses, banned in Russia, to six years in a standard-security penitentiary, the Russian Investigative Committee’s regional branch said. The 66-year-old man was found guilty of organizing the extremist organization’s activities. “The court sentenced the defendant to six years in a standard-security penal colony,” it said. The court established   that, between July 2017 and September 2018, the man used his apartment in the Leninsky District of Novosibirsk to hold religious meetings at which he oversaw the reading and discussion of extremist literature.