A court in Russia's far east on Wednesday sentenced five Jehovah's Witnesses to more than six years in prison, just two days after four other believers were also sent to jail, the religious group said.
The five received terms of between six years and three months to six and a half years in the city of Blagoveshchensk, it said in a statement, noting the FSB security service had begin probing the local chapter in 2017.
The sentences are the latest step in a crackdown on a group that Russia has banned. A court in Birobidzhan, some 500 km (310 miles) further to the east, on Monday sentenced four members to terms of between three-and-a-half and seven years.
