Putin to look into Jehovah’s Witnesses cases

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has pledged to look into the reported persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Russia banned the Christian denomination last year and declared the religious group an extremist organisation. Nearly 100 Jehovah’s Witnesses face charges in Russia, and 25 of them are in jail awaiting trial. Human rights activists raised the plight of Jehovah’s Witnesses last week with Putin, who criticised extremism charges against the religion’s adherents as “nonsense” and promised to look at the court cases.

His remarks were released by the Kremlin on Monday.