Self-proclaimed 'God' sets himself ablaze

A man in Russia, proclaiming to be "God", set himself ablaze and landed in hospital in a critical condition with 70% burns. According to the son of the injured man, his 43-year-old father had been a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

A man in Russia, proclaiming to be "God", set himself ablaze and landed in hospital in a critical condition with 70% burns, RIA Novosti reported.

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A member of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect, he set himself on fire on Monday in the Moscow region, police said.

The incident occurred in the village of Nakhabino, 33 km outside Moscow after the man bought fuel, poured it onto himself and set himself ablaze.

“According to the son of the injured man, his 43-year-old father had been a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses and considered himself to be God,” the police said.

Investigators are probing the cause of the man’s suicide attempt.

The Jehovah's Witnesses, with some seven million followers worldwide and over 200,000 in Russia, have been banned in a number of Russian regions and in some former Soviet republics.

The sect is banned in China, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, among other countries.