Criminotheology

Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Putin’s Russia

Abstract

Following their ban in 2017, the state targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses as harmful sectarians in the context of a ‘conservative twist’ in Russian politics grounded in late-Soviet anti-sectarian models and narratives. The active use of religious instruments in the political setup has led to a growing securitization of religion in Russia, where ‘non-traditional’ religiosity and religious non-conformism have been criminalised and blended with terrorism and extremism. The article focuses on forensic expertise in religion used in trials against believers and discusses how the forensic analysis of religious teachings for criminal evidence (criminotheology) have construed Jehovah’s Witnesses as dangerous extremists.