You're reading: Associated Press: Putin decries prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia

Associated Press: Putin decries prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia

Published Dec. 18, 2018 at 12:21 pm

People attend the annual Jehovah's Witnesses assembly gathering 30.000 believers on July 22, 2011 in Villepinte, Paris suburb. European rights judges said on June 30, 2011 that France had interfered with the religious freedom of Jehovah's Witnesses in imposing a supplementary tax assessment on gifts by its faithful. The Association of Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that the French government was trying to repress their activities by imposing in 1998 a tax assessment that amounted in total to 45 million euros ($65 million), covering the period from 1993 to 1996. AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND GUAY / AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND GUAY

Photo by AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to look into the reported persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Russia officially banned the Christian denomination last year and declared the religious group an extremist organization. Nearly 100 Jehovah’s Witnesses face charges in Russia, and 25 of them are in jail awaiting trial.