Overview
- A Moscow judicial court service announced on Friday that 123 properties formerly linked to Jehovah's Witnesses were seized and handed to the Russian state.
- The assets include 63 residential and commercial buildings totaling more than 11,000 square metres and 60 land plots adding up to 5.6 hectares spread across Russia.
- Russian authorities say the properties had been registered under the group's Swedish branch, a practice groups sometimes use to hold assets abroad.
- Prosecutions continue in parallel: roughly 220 members have been jailed since the 2017 domestic ban and recent convictions relied on covert recordings from operatives who infiltrated prayer meetings.
- The transfer deepens tensions with the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in 2022 that Russia’s 2017 ban was unlawful, and it risks widening property loss and hardship for members and congregations.