SPECIAL REPORT 2017/03 (about Russia)

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now translated in english (from russian)
download
https://jw-russia.org/sites/default/files/russiareport_proof-3.pdf

 

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(for our archives):

russiareport_proof-3.pdf

 

[Guest Kurt]

RUSSIA: Russia Suspends Jehovah’s Witnesses

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 4, 2017

RUSSIA:  Russia Suspends Jehovah’s Witnesses

USCIRF Condemns Actions That Would Eliminate the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Legal Existence in Russia

Washington, D.C. –  Russia’s Justice Ministry suspended the Jehovah’s Witnesses on March 24, alleging that its activities “violate Russia’s laws on combating extremism.”  The Russian authorities have used their extremism law to systematically harass the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a legally registered religious group in Russia with close to 200,000 adherents.  That law, which requires neither the use nor advocacy of violence for activity to be labeled extremist, was enacted after a sustained Russian campaign against this group began in early 2006. 

Thomas J. Reese, S.J., Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) stated, “The Russian government’s latest actions appear designed to eliminate the legal existence of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. If the Supreme Court rules in April that this group is ‘extremist’ it would mark the first time that Russia legally has banned a centrally-administered religious organization and would effectively criminalize all Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activity nationwide. USCIRF calls on the Russian government to stop its harassment of this peaceful religious group.”

The treatment of the Jehovah’s Witnesses reflects the Russian government’s tendency to view all independent religious activity as a threat to its control and the country’s political stability.  This approach dates back to the Soviet period and impacts other religious groups, including peaceful Christians and Muslims.  These groups are also being persecuted for their beliefs in the Russian-occupied areas of Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

In March 2016, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office warned the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ national headquarters that the organization could be banned and its activities shut down nationwide if further evidence of alleged “extremism” was found within a year. In January 2017, an appellate court rejected the Witnesses’ appeal of the warning, and in March 2017 the Ministry of Justice filed a formal request for the Russian Supreme Court to designate the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ headquarters as extremist.

USCIRF calls on the Russian government and judiciary to respect the freedom of religion or belief and halt their harassment of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religious groups. 

For more information, see USCIRF’s 2016 Annual Report chapter on Russia.  Click here to view the Russian version of the chapter.

source

PROCEEDINGS ON BAN ON JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES IN RUSSIA ENTERS DAY 3

 

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SPECIAL REPORT RUSSIA’S ATTACK on RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

The Ministry of Justice issued a directive to suspend immediately the activity of the national Administrative Center and all 395 legal entities, or Local Religious Organizations (LROs), of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The directive effectively bans the religious activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses until the Supreme Court makes the final determination.

The Ministry of Justice filed a claim with the Supreme Court, demanding that the Administrative Center and all LROs be liquidated and deleted from the official State registry and that all property owned by the Administrative Center and all LROs, which includes all Kingdom Halls (houses of worship), be confiscated by the State.

CRIMINALIZE 1 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

The Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity is used as the basis for charges of extremism against Jehovah’s Witnesses. As amended in 2006, the law does not require calls to violent acts, only the vague concept of “incitement of . . . religious discord.”

Law on extremism misapplied to Jehovah’s Witnesses

In 2008, the Rostov Regional Prosecutor’s Office commissioned an expert study of the Witnesses’ religious literature. The study concluded that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not urge hostile action either in their literature or in carrying out their activities.

However, the Rostov Regional Court focused on the experts’ opinion that theological discussion in the Witnesses’ literature had “the potential to undermine respect” for other religions.

The court concluded that this “undermining [of] respect” was “aimed at inciting religious discord” and considered it evidence of “extremism.”

On 11 September 2009, the Rostov Regional Court ruled to declare 34 Witness publications “extremist,” and these were eventually placed on the Federal

List of Extremist Materials . The court also declared the Taganrog LRO “extremist” and ordered federal authorities to liquidate it, ban its activity, place its name on a list of extremist organizations, confiscate its religious literature and its property.

By the start of 2016, similar court actions had declared 88 religious publications “extremist,” liquidated three LROs, and confiscated at least one house of worship.