Thread by @Reevellp

1/ This is one of the grimmest stories I've done in #Russia. Since 2017, Russia has run a campaign of terror against Jehovah's Witnesses. It's one of the worst examples of oppression in the country, and maybe the most mysterious.
Our new @ABC short film: abcn.ws/3ku5nZ4

2/ If you ask people what is the most persecuted group in #Russia, few would think of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
But they are now one of the most.
Hundreds of arrests. People jailed for up to 8 years.
A trailer for our new @ABC short doc.
Full film here: abcn.ws/3ku5nZ4

3/ We were filming in northern #Russia with a group of Jehovah's Witnesses when police came for one man. They tried to take him by force to imprison him in a psychiatric hospital. When he refused, they jumped him in front of our cameras.
Watch here: abcn.ws/3ku5nZ4

4/ #Russia's campaign is bafflingly cruel. An entirely peaceful religious group is being subjected to mass arrests, house raids by SWAT teams and in some places torture. Those arrested face sentences of 6-10 years in prison. Dozens are already jailed.
abcn.ws/3ku5nZ4

5/ In late 2019 we filmed with Yury Temirbulatov, a very gentle man, who is entirely law abiding. In February, he was arrested and he now likely faces 6 years in a prison camp.
His only 'crime' is for praying and singing hymns.
It's heartbreaking.
abcn.ws/3ku5nZ4

6/ Jehovah's Witnesses are not popular, they don't illicit much sympathy. But their treatment in #Russia is horrific. It's deeply shocking that in 21st Century Europe a peaceful religious group is being jailed, tortured and put in psychiatric institutions
abcn.ws/3ku5nZ4