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Danish Jehovah's Witness released after five years behind bars in Russia | Abroad | DR Danish Dennis Christensen has been imprisoned since 2017 on charges of promoting religious extremism. After five years behind bars in Russia, Danish Dennis Christensen has today been released. Outside the prison, about 100 people were waiting to receive the now free Dane - fellow believers, friends, his Russian wife, Irina, and DR's Russia correspondent, Matilde Kimer, who has followed Dennis Christensen's case closely in recent years. - The prison chose to put Dennis Christensen in a small minibus inside the prison grounds and then drive him out of there. So the only thing Dennis' wife and friends could see were a pair of hands waving out through a curtain where you could see that he was handcuffed, says Matilde Kimer. However, the release of the Danish Jehovah's Witness did not happen, as neither friends nor wife had thought it would, she says: - His wife had been told, among other things, that he would be allowed to change into ordinary clothes and not be in prison clothes. But it was he, she could see in through the small crack that was in the curtains of the minibus. In principle, he was not meant to be handcuffed either, says the Russia correspondent, who was not given the opportunity to interview Dennis Christensen. Dennis Christensen has been imprisoned in Russia since he was arrested in 2017 during a Bible reading with others members of Jehovah's Witnesses. to promote religious extremism by reading from the Bible during an event for Jehovah's Witnesses. As a result, it became illegal for members of Jehovah's Witnesses to practice and serve missions in the country. Dennis Christensen became the first of a whole wave of lawsuits against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, says Matilde Kimer: - We have seen just under 100 lawsuits and verdicts against Jehovah's Witnesses, and according to them, more than 1,700 have been left home. This means that difficult men come in and look for extremist material, and these are, for example, the Bibles of Jehovah's Witnesses, she says. -orthodox church feels a certain pressure, some to a greater extent, some to a lesser extent, she says. Today's release comes, according to a court in 2020. with a fine of approximately 38,000 kroner., which has meant that Dennis Christensen has had to wait another two years for his release. Dennis Christensen was born in Copenhagen in 1972 to parents who are also Jehovah's Witnesses, and he has been a member of the faith. all his life. He has lived in Russia since 1995, when he moved to help establish Jehovah's Witnesses.