Russia imposes longest sentences yet on Jehovah's Witnesses for 'extremism'

"Russia has jailed three Jehovah's Witnesses for more than eight years each for alleged extremist activity, a spokesperson for the faith group said, the harshest sentences it has imposed yet on members of the organization after hundreds of prosecutions.

New York-based spokesperson Jarrod Lopes said the verdicts were handed down in a case arising from a police raid on a cafe where some 50 Jehovah's Witnesses were attending a social, not religious, event.
Polevodov was sentenced to 8.5 years, Vitaliy Zhuk to eight years and four months and Stanislav Kim to eight years and two months, Lopes said. Three women - Zhuk's wife Tatyana, Svetlana Sedova and Maya Karpushkina - received suspended sentences of five, five and four years respectively.
Religious life in Russia is dominated by the Russian Orthodox Church, which is championed by and loyal to President Vladimir Putin. Some Orthodox scholars view Jehovah's Witnesses, known for door-to-door preaching and refusing military service, as a "totalitarian sect"." MS