DESS head reveals where faith is now persecuted "worse than in the USSR"

Conference "Church – Science – Society: Issues of Interaction". Photo: DESS

The head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) Viktor Yelensky at the round table "Freedom of Conscience under Occupation" in Kyiv stated that the persecution of believers in the Russian Federation is "worse than in the USSR", reports DESS of Ukraine.

According to him, practices that have surpassed the late Soviet period in their cruelty are being applied in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In particular, he gave an example that if under Brezhnev, conscientious objectors from among Jehovah's Witnesses received 2–3 years of imprisonment, today in the Russian Federation believers of this organization receive real sentences of 6–8 years for their beliefs and peaceful assemblies.

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Yelensky characterized modern Russia as a "natural enemy of religious freedom," mentioned totalitarian-type allies and emphasized the need to document crimes against believers in the temporarily occupied territories, guaranteeing confidentiality to those who provide information to the service. 

As the UOJ reported, DESS intends to file lawsuits against every UOC eparchy.

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