Russian activists have slammed the recent detentions and alleged torture of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Western Siberia, comparing them to persecution by the Nazis.

A spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, an organization that Russia labeled extremist in 2017, alleged that at least seven adherents of the religious group had been brutally tortured after being detained last week in the Siberian city of Surgut. The spokesperson said that investigators had stripped, suffocated, doused with water and applied stun guns on the believers during an interrogation. Russia's Investigative Committee denied the claims, saying that investigators did not apply any physical or psychological pressure on the detainees and had acted in accordance with the law.