Jehovah's Witnesses banned on flimsy evidence

[Guest Kurt]

 

 

IN BELGOROD REGION JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CONGREGATIONS FOUND TO BE EXTREMIST

by Vsevolod Inyutin,

Kommersant (Belgorod) 12 February 2016

 http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2913707

 

On the basis of a lawsuit from the prosecutor's office, the Belgorod provincial court ruled that two of the largest local congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses are extremist and issued a decision to liquidate them. The oversight agency said that representatives of this cult "violated the integrity of the family," and they distributed texts with citations to forbidden literature. Representatives of the organization promise to challenge the decisions of the court, which in their opinion were based on unreliable testimonies from a person who supposedly was rewarded by the Russian Orthodox Church "for struggle with sectarians." Experts do not see legal reasons for prohibiting the Belgorod Jehovists.

 

The decisions for the liquidation of the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in the two largest cities of the province—Belgorod and Stary Oskol—were made on the same day, 11 February, and they took effect immediately. According to information from the press service of the provincial court, both congregations were ruled to be extremist and their activity was found to be in violation of the federal law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations." An official representative of the provincial prosecutor's office, Olga Moiseikina, said that personnel of the agency proved in court that Jehovists "violate the integrity of the family." They produced as examples complaints from school teachers who described how a Jehovist mother "beat [her children] with a willow branch and set them in a corner" and forced them to follow the teachings of the Witnesses. She also argued with the teacher that they should not attend classes in Orthodox culture which are practically obligatory in Belgorod province.

 

"A woman also appealed to the prosecutor's office, whose Jehovist grandaughter had registered her in a home for the elderly. The activity of this organization led to conflicts within the family because of religious disagreements," Mrs. Moiseikina summed up. She said that the Witnesses also provoked public discontent. Residents of Stary Oskol and a neighboring village also appealed to the agency and asked to stop the activity of Witnesses missionaries, who claimed "that their religion is most correct." However the agency considers that the most egregious thing is that several Jehovists refused blood transfusions, which ended in their death. "After an auto accident, a man was brought to the hospital, and his relatives, who attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, refused blood transfusion in writing. A similar thing happened with a woman who presented at the emergency room with poisoning. In both cases, the outcome was fatal. In several other cases, doctors either managed to persuade the patients to have a transfusion or in the end it was not required," the representative of the prosecutor's office reported. In addition, ministers of the cult were found in possession of literature with references to prohibited texts and websites, especially the official portal of the Jehovah's Witnesses. It was these arguments that were determinative for the court that the provincial prosecutor's office labored to designate.

 

The Russian representation of Jehovah's Witnesses intends to challenge the liquidation of the congregations in the Supreme Court. "The decisions of the court are based on unreliable evidence. For example, the testimony of a young man named Sukhobrus. He maintained that he visited a Jehovah's Witnesses church and there he was given extremist materials. Who it was and when he was not able to say. Meanwhile, lawyers discovered on the Internet a photograph in which Sukhobrus was receiving an award "for struggle with sects" from a local, highly-placed priest of the Russian Orthodox Church," the press secretary of the Russian representation, Ivan Belenko, told Kommersant. Mr. Belenko emphasized that the prosecutors "did not introduce any evidence regarding the organizations themselves," but they described for the court only "physical persons who were not members in them." "In any case, the court liquidated only two specific legal entities but it did not forbid people to confess their faith, as the Russian constitution guarantees," he added.

 

The head of the SOVA Center for News and Analysis, Alexander Berkhovsky, called Jehovah's Witnesses "one of the religious organizations that have suffered most" in Russia. "Back in 2009 they were banned in Taganrog. There the consequence was even a criminal trial. Adherents of this cult continued to assemble and law enforcement officials took this as the continuation of activity of a prohibited organization. Much of the Witnesses' literature has been ruled by courts to be extremist, and recently at the border a bunch of their books were seized—this was a translation of the Bible, which was not just that of the Jehovists but also the synodal version," Mr. Berkhovsky explained. In his opinion, the prosecutors did not identify legal grounds for finding the congregations to be extremist. "Almost all religions of the world consider their teaching to be uniquely correct. The Jehovists have not written anywhere that it is necessary to divorce if a husband or wife professes a different religion. In addition, the law does not in any way forbid reference to extremist literature and all citizens regardless of their convictions have the right to refuse medical aid," he explained. The expert does not believe that the Jehovah's Witnesses will succeed in the Supreme Court: "Nobody has yet managed to beat back such claims once they have been confirmed by a court."

 

Jehovah's Witnesses in northern Russia lose appeal in court

 

ARKHANGELSK JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DID NOT SUCCEED IN CHALLENGING PROSECUTOR'S WARNING

 

SOVA Center for News and Analysis, 10 February 2016

 

On 10 February 2016, the Arkhangelsk provincial court ruled the warning of the prosecutor's office about the impermissibility of extremist activity, issued to the Arkhangelsk local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses on 11 June 2015, to be legal.

 

The warning was issued after FSB personnel conducted a series of searches in the premises of the Kingdom Hall and in Arkhangelsk believers' apartments. The agency reported that as a result, about 400 copies of prohibited literature were confiscated.

 

The congregation originally tried to challenge the warning in district court and then filed an appeal in provincial court, but it also turned down the appeal. We note that the head of the congregation, Alexander Parygin, who recently was fined for distributing prohibited literature, himself filed in the Ministry of Justice an application for the liquidation of his organization, in October 2015.

 

We recall that we regard the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses and the ban of their texts under the guise of combating extremism to be religious discrimination.

 

HEAD OF ARKHANGELSK JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES FINED

SOVA Center for News and Analysis, 4 February 2016

 

Alexander Parygin was fined on basis of article 20.29 of Code of Administrative Violations of Law.

 

It was reported on 4 February 2016 that the October district court of Arkhangelsk on 22 January 2016 found the head of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, "Central. Arkhangelsk," Alexander Parygin, guilty of possession of extremist literature for the purpose of mass distribution (article 20.29 of Code of Administrative Violations of Law). It was reported that he was sentenced to a fine of 1,500 rubles.

 

This was not the first case of prosecutions of Jehovah's Witnesses in Arkhangelsk. Thus in April of 2015, religious literature was confiscated in the premises of the congregation, and in October 2015 the same October court of Arkhangelsk fined a member of the congregation on the basis of article 20.29. After this, Parygin reported that he had sent to the Ministry of Justice an application for self-liquidation of the city's organization. In December, Igor Orlov, the acting governor of Arkhangelsk province, stated that he intends to "delegalize" the Jehovah's Witnesses in the region. [see Russian governor threatens Jehovah's Witnesses, December 7, 2015]

 

We consider that persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses and the ban of their texts for extremism are illegal and we view this as religious discrimination.

 

Russian governor threatens Jehovah's Witnesses

 

HEAD OF ARKHANGELSK PROVINCE INTENDS TO "DELEGALIZE" JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

SOVA, 7 December 2015

 http://www.sova-center.ru/religion/news/harassment/discrimination/2015/12/d33393/

 

The acting governor of Arkhangelsk province said in an interview with an Orthodox publication that the government and church together should counteract "sects" and that the Arkhangelsk authorities are preparing to work for the prohibition of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

On 7 December 2015, the website of the Arkhangelsk diocese published an interview with the acting governor of Arkhangelsk province, Igor Orlov. In particular, in the interview the governor reported about work being conducted "in order to delegalize the Jehovah's Witnesses in Arkhangelsk province." He recalled that Jehovah's Witnesses have been banned in several regions and he confirmed that Arkhangelsk authorities are "going along the very same road."

 

"A person may worship Perun or whomever he wants, but he should not cause harm to others and force them to commit illegal acts. But only within the bounds of the law can one demonstrate that one or another organization does not comport with the interests of society and the state. This process is always complicated, but work is continuing," the governor said.

 

In the same interview, I. Orlov declared that "governmental authority should treat with respect all confessions and beliefs, if they bear a constructive character with respect to society."  "To treat with respect the faith of a person is the clear duty of the government. But at the same time there also is a second duty: along with the church to oppose destructive forces that destroy human souls. Sects and all possible pseudoreligious movements represent a system of the destruction of the inner world of a person. The government should not permit that."

 

 

 

ARKHANGELSK JEHOVISTS DECIDE TO SELF-LIQUIDATE

29.ru, 29 October 2015

 

The leader of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, "Central. Arkhangelsk," Alexander Parygin, sent to the provincial division of the Ministry of Justice of the RF an application for the self-liquidation of the organization.

 

The regional anti-sectarian center "Civil Security" reported that the request was made on the eve of a session of the October court of Arkhangelsk on 30 October. At it instances of the distribution of extremist literature by Jehovists will be considered.

 

Civil Security noted that the prosecutor's office of the region has already issued to the leaders of the Arkhangelsk and Kotlas Jehovists a warning about the impermissibility of extremist activity. In the opinion of specialists of the center, self-liquidation with subsequent registration of a new legal entity with a different name is nothing other than an attempt to escape accountability.

 

Jehovah's Witnesses is an international religious organization of a pseudo-Christian movement. Many Russian analysts and religious studies experts consider the Jehovah's Witnesses to be a totalitarian sect. They maintain that being among Jehovists substantially increases the risk of developing psychiatric illnesses and disorders, including severe ones. The number of adherents of the cult in Arkhangelsk province is more than 2,500, of which approximately 1,000 are in the provincial center.