Russian Court Jails Danish Jehovah’s Witness for 6 Years in First Religious Extremism Case

Dennis Christensen leaves after a court session in Oryol © Reuters / Andrew Osborn

Danish Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Christensen has become the first member of the religious group to be jailed for extremist offences in Russia. The group has been banned in the country since 2017.

A district court in Oryol, some 320km south of Moscow, sentenced Christensen to six years in prison after finding that he was the “de facto leader” of a local branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and had been responsible for organizing its activities.

Christensen, a 46-year-old construction worker and son of a Jehovah Witness missionary, had been living in Russia since 2000. He and his wife Irina were preaching for years, although Christensen was not officially a member of the group, the court heard.

He pleaded not guilty, claiming that he had been merely practicing his religion, in accordance with the Russian constitution. Before the verdict was announced, he shouted, calling for religious freedom to be protected in Russia.

Yaroslav Sivulsky, a spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, told Reuters that they consider the verdict to be unjust.

In 2017, Russia’s Supreme Court declared the Jehovah’s Witnesses an “extremist organization,” and ordered all of its 395 regional branches to be disbanded. All of the group’s property was handed over to the state.

The conflict between Russian authorities and the religious group had been brewing since at least 2004. The national health authorities objected to the group’s strict rule prohibiting blood transfusions, especially in cases involving children.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses argued that the Russian law on extremism does not mention blood transfusion in any way, but the court rejected its defense. Since then, more than 100 criminal cases against the organization’s members have been opened and dozens of printed booklets have been put on a list of banned extremist literature.

However, last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual media Q&A session that branding the Jehovah’s Witnesses as extremists is “utter nonsense,” and promised to look into the prosecution of the group’s members.

8 More Areas in Sweden Added to List of so-called 'No-Go Zones’

In keeping with my sincere desire to always search for the truth,

I present an article which directly contradicts one I posted yesterday.

This one is from RT, so read with some degree of caution.

Note: The Swedish police don't call these 'no-go zones' but,

like French police, use different terms to identify them.

'No-go zones' is almost certainly a hyperbolic term, nevertheless,

the problems in these zones are serious enough for the Swedish

police to make public. Swedish police are normally very

protective, even secretive, when it comes to Muslims.

Rinkeby, Stockholms ln, Sweden © Global Look Press

A new report from the Swedish police lists eight additional areas as being “especially vulnerable," where it is more difficult for law enforcement and other emergency services to do their job.

In 2015, the Swedish police released a report describing 53 districts throughout the country as “vulnerable," and 15 listed as “especially vulnerable." Vulnerable areas are described as having high rates of crime and poverty where police face unique challenges and have to adapt their approach. These neighborhoods may also host violent religious extremism, and locals don’t report crime to police for fear of retribution.

Vulnerable areas are described as having high rates of crime

and poverty where police face unique challenges.

They may also host violent religious extremism, and locals don’t

report crime to police for fear of retribution.

The new report, which has not yet been made public but was seen by journalists from the newspaper DN, adds eight more areas to the list, raising the number to 23.

53 districts that are vulnerable is significant number, as is 23 that re 'especially vulnerable'. I assume, but it's not clear from this article, that the 23 are included in the 53. It is also not clear what exactly causes the police to change the designation from 'vulnerable' to 'especially vulnerable'. But since Swedish police are requesting 100 more police, there is obviously a problem. Mind you, 100 police would only mean an average of 2 additional police persons per 'vulnerable' area, or 4 per 'especially vulnerable' area. Or perhaps police want to form 4 or 5 units of 25 or 20 police scattered around the country available for rapid deployment to hot zones? That might make more sense.

These new areas are in the cities of Boras, Gothenburg, Landskrona, Malmö, Uppsala and in the capital, Stockholm.

According to Linda Staaf, head of the national police NOA's intelligence department, these areas should have been classified as “especially vulnerable” earlier, but there was not enough information on them available.

“In comparison to the last report we now have more knowledge and a better picture,” she told DN.

Police have asked for more resources in dealing with these troubled neighborhoods.

“We know how to work when it comes to the problems in this area and our two previous especially vulnerable areas, that's not the problem. But in order to do that in the right way we ought to be at least another hundred staff,” Malmö police chief Stefan Sintéus told DN.

These areas, which often host a large immigrant or foreign-born population, have been described as “no-go zones” by media. But this label has been rejected by the Swedish police, who admit that while there are difficulties in certain neighborhoods, they are not ones in which they cannot effectively work. The label has also been criticized as being a hyperbole that compares parts of a prosperous, industrial nation, with a still relatively low crime rate, to a war zone.

But for some service providers at least, the term “no-go zones” is more literal. 

In March, the president of Sweden's ambulance union called for enhanced security for his personnel when working in the so-called “no-go zones,” saying first responders need “special” military-grade equipment to withstand the dangers of the mainly migrant-populated areas. 

And in April, the government-owned postal service PostNord has halted mail delivery to some addresses near the troubled Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, where a large-scale riot took place earlier this year.