REGARDING ADJOURNMENT OF SUPREME COURT

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Supreme Court begins consideration of case against Jehovah's Witnesses

SUPREME COURT DECLARES RECESS UNTIL THURSDAY IN REVIEW OF SUIT TO BAN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN RUSSIA

Interfax-Religiia, 5 April 2017

 

The Russian Supreme Court will continue on 6 April consideration of the lawsuit of the Ministry of Justice to rule the Russian Jehovah's Witnesses to be an extremist organization and to ban its activity on the territory of the country.

 

As an Interfax correspondent reports, the court declared a recess in order to give time to representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses to acquaint themselves with additional materials that the Ministry of Justice presented.

 

Earlier on Wednesday the Supreme Court of the RF rejected a petition from the Jehovah's Witnesses to suspend the proceedings on the justice ministry's lawsuit with regard to this organization. Lawyers for the Jehovists requested to suspend the proceedings on the lawsuit until the issuance of decisions by courts of general jurisdiction in a number of cases. In particular, at the present time courts are considering the recognition of 90 printed materials of the Jehovists as extremist, as well as eight cases for the prohibition of the activity of regional divisions.

 

As reported, the lawsuit against the religious organization was filed on 15 March, and at that time the work of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia was suspended by order of the Ministry of Justice until consideration of the lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the RF because of their extremist activity.

 

Thus, according to materials on the ministry's website, from 2009 to 2016, 95 materials of the Jehovah's Witnesses that were imported and distributed in Russia were ruled to be extremist and also eight local religious divisions of Jehovah's Witnesses that were members of the structure of the organization were banned and liquidated. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 April 2017)