A court in southern Russia has found six Jehovah’s Witnesses guilty of “extremism” and sentenced them to prison terms between two and three and a half years Thursday. Russia outlawed Jehovah's Witnesses in 2017, making it a criminal offense for the group’s estimated 175,000 worshippers to meet or distribute literature. Human rights groups have condemned law enforcement raids against the group as violations of religious freedom.

Alexei Budenchuk, Konstantin Bazhenov, Felix Makhammadiev, Alexei Miretsky, Roman Gridasov and Gennady German jw-russia.org

A Saratov court handed the sentences to Konstantin Bazhenov, Alexei Budenchuk, Felix Makhammadiev, Roman Gridasov, Gennady German and Alexei Miretsky, the organization said. The six Jehovah’s Witnesses had been swept up in mass nationwide raids in mid-2018 on suspicion of organizing, participating in or financing an “extremist organization.” Prosecutors sought prison sentences between six and seven years. Jarrod Lopes, a spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses at their world headquarters in New York, said in an emailed statement that the worshippers were convicted “for their peaceful Christian worship.” Rachel Denber, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Europe and Central Asia director, said the six were jailed “for nothing.”