Week-ending 26 February 2021
On 24 February 2021 a court in Abakan, Khakassia, sentenced two Jehovah’s Witnesses to prison terms on account of their faith. Roman Baranovsky was sentenced to six years in prison and his mother, Valentina Baranovskaya, was sentenced to two years in prison.
Source:
RFE/RL, 24 February 2021: A Russian court has sentenced a mother and her son to prison as part of ongoing persecution of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group. A court in Abakan in the Siberian region of Khakassia on February 24 sentenced Roman Baranovsky to six years in prison and his mother, Valentina Baranovskaya, to two years, the group said. Baranovskaya, 69, is the first woman to be imprisoned from the religious group. Last year, she suffered a stroke.
