Supreme Court grants justice ministry's lawsuit

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RUSSIAN SUPREME COURT FINDS EXTREMIST AND LIQUIDATES RUSSIAN DIVISION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

Sect's property converted to state use

Interfax-Religiia, 20 April 2017

 

The Supreme Court of the Russian federation found the Russian Jehovah's Witnesses to be an extremist organization and prohibited its activity on Russian territory.

 

As an Interfax correspondent reports, thereby was satisfied the administrative lawsuit of the Russian Ministry of Justice for ruling the religious organization "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" to be extremist and for banning its activity and for liquidating it.

 

On Thursday in court the lawyer for the Ministry of Justice of the RF, Svetlana Borisova, declared that the lawsuit was filed in order to strengthen legality, prevent violation of the interests of security, and prevent extremist activity in the RF.

 

"The religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses has indicators of extremist activity. They pose a threat to the rights of citizens, social order, and public safety," she emphasized.

 

The authors of the plaintiff's declaration also asked for converting immoveable property that belongs to the Jehovah's Witnesses to state use. The court granted this request.

 

The justice ministry demanded prohibiting the activity of the Administrative Center as well as of 395 local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

The ministry's lawyer told the court about a large quantity of administrative violations of law, which are particularly displayed in the distribution of extremist literature by regional representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

"Despite the entry into the list of extremist literature, incidents of the distribution of forbidden printed materials were established, particularly of the periodical publication 'Watchtower,'"she said.

 

In addition, representatives of the Ministry of Justice call the prohibition of blood transfusion, which Jehovah's Witnesses promote, a threat to personal safety.

 

On his part, Judge Yury Ivanenko asked the plaintiff in what way specifically the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia poses a threat to public safety and order and to what extent is it proportional to the demand to liquidate the organization.

 

"I suggest that it is absolutely necessary to stop the activity of the Administrative Center, since its activity is insufficient to stop the distribution of extremist literature in the RF. The threat to public safety and order consists the fact that an indeterminate circle of persons receive information about the activity of the organization," the justice ministry's lawyer said.

 

"If this activity is not prohibited, the distribution of extremist materials will continue. Besides, the activity of the organization violates the right to receive unhindered medical help," she added.

 

In their turn, representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses earlier asked the Russian Supreme Court to receive from them a counter suit "for the ruling of the religious organization to be victims of political repressions." The court refused to receive the lawsuit although it emphasized that judicial control of the activity of the organization will be carried out from written objections to the justice ministry's suit.

 

An attorney for the defendant complained that back before the issuance of the judicial decision, the Jehovah's Witnesses had been subjected to prosecution. The organization's attorney also declared that "the majority of established instances of the distribution of forbidden materials are slander." "It is an established fact that the forbidden materials were planted on us. All of the arguments of the Ministry of Justice are built on unfounded accusations, forgeries, and false testimonies," he said.

 

Representatives of the defendant also complained that the Ministry of Justice demands the banning of 395 local organizations, some of which have not at all committed any violations and there are no accusations against their activity.

 

The leader of Russian Jehovah's Witnesses, Vasily Kalin, declared that the present judicial proceedings attract attention and evoke condemnation on the part of the world community.

 

The lawsuit against the religious organization was filed 15 March, and at the time, by order of the Ministry of Justice, the work of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia was suspended because of extremist activity until the consideration of the lawsuit in the Supreme Court. The press service of the ministry told Interfax that the lawsuit was filed on the basis of the results of an unscheduled documentary inspection, conducted from 8 to 27 February 2017, of the consistency of the activity of the religious organization Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia with the goals and tasks declared in its charter.

 

The Jehovah's Witnesses organization has regularly been the object of attention of monitoring agencies in all regions of Russia and in addition its activity has been banned in a number of regions.

 

Previously, the Supreme Court of the RF has ruled decisions for the liquidation of territorial divisions of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel, Stary Oskol and Belgorod, Abinsk of Krasnodar territory, Samara, Birobidzhan, and other cities to be legal. Local divisions of the organization have frequently been held administratively accountable for distribution of extremist materials, in Tiumen, Abinsk, Samara, Saransk, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Gelendzhik, and other cities. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 April 2017)