Russia has carried out new armed searches of the homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in occupied Crimea with 29-year-old father of two, Artem Shabliy arrested and facing criminal charges for his faith. This new act of repression came on the same day that a Russian-controlled Crimean ‘court’ upheld the six and a half-year sentence against 47-year-old Serhiy Filatov. This is the first prison sentence against Jehovah’s Witnesses in occupied Crimea, and the new offensive made it clear that, under Russian occupation, no believers are safe from persecution.
