ECtHR upholds complaints of Azerbaijani Jehovah's Witnesses*

[Isabella]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has made two decisions on complaints of Azerbaijani Jehovah's Witnesses*, obliging the government to pay them more than 24,000 euros of compensations.

On February 20, the ECtHR announced its decision on the case "Nasirov et al versus Azerbaijan". The applicants were seven Azerbaijani citizens-members of Jehovah's Witnesses*.

According to the ECtHR, in 2010 they were detained and taken to police stations for exhorting religious ideas. They were brought to administrative responsibility and fined by the amount equivalent to 200 euros on charges of distributing religious literature unauthorized by the authorities.

The ECtHR found violation of the applicants' rights under Articles 5.1 (the right to the liberty and personal immunity) and 9 (the freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and obliged the authorities to pay compensations for the inflicted moral harm in the amount of 3000 euros to each applicant.

Also, the ECtHR announced its decision on the case "Religious Community of Jehovah's Witnesses* versus Azerbaijan". The complaint concerned the ban on the import of several texts of Jehovah's Witnesses*.

The ECtHR found a violation of the applicant's rights under Article 10 (freedom of self-expression and thought), and obliged the country's authorities to pay the compensation in the amount of 3000 euros for moral harm and 42.56 euros for legal expenses.

* 396 Russian organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were recognized as extremist in Russia; their activities were banned by a court decision.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 20, 2020 at 11:29 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/50068/

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

If memory serves, the predominate language inAzerbaijani is Russian. I am guessing that this is the first crack in the ice that has frozen JWs out of the Russian Federation, and as I have mentioned about four times earlier, the ice will thaw and JWs will be "reinstated" by Vladimir Putin before the end of 2020. 

If that doesn't happen it's no big deal, as we (JWs) have never been right about ANY prediction, so I would have a really good excuse.

[Patiently waiting for Truth]

Did the 1st Century Christians cry out for Human Rights and Compensation ? 

https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-persecution.html

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Like Penguins, I think they were more interested in fish.

[Arauna]

On 2/22/2020 at 6:14 AM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

the predominate language inAzerbaijani is Russian.

They speak their own language but were forced to learn Russian under the USSR. The Russian mentality has stuck and together with Islam it suppresses minority religions.

We see reports of ugly torture in Russia regarding JWs - the police are a law to themselves.  Russia may do the same way as many other communist states...... have a life-long "elected" dictator.   

[Isabella]

Azerbaijani Jehovah’s Witnesses suffered Convention violations, ECtHR rules

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favour of a religious community which was prohibited from importing religious literature by the Azerbaijani authorities.

The community of Jehovah’s Witnesses sought official approval to import religious materials but select texts were rejected as they were deemed detrimental to fostering respect between religious communities.

The community complained that these restrictions constituted unlawful interference with its members’ freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and violated the prohibition of discrimination.

ADF International intervened in the case to underscore the importance of religious freedom and freedom of expression as well as the dangerous precedent it sets when the government is allowed to blacklist certain religious texts.

This case was not the first time that Azerbaijani authorities have hindered the importation of religious literature. While this case involved Jehovah’s Witnesses, according to the United States Department of State Report on Religious Freedom (2015), other religious groups including Muslims and Christians have also been affected by governmental interference.

Minority groups have been subjected not only to religious literature bans, but also to a wide range of other restrictive measures: gatherings have been raided by police, religious materials confiscated, and members fined for participation in gatherings and discussing their faith in public.

Read more: https://www.irishlegal.com/article/azerbaijani-jehovah-s-witnesses-suffered-convention-violations-ecthr-rules

[Arauna]

On 2/22/2020 at 7:25 PM, 4Jah2me said:

Did the 1st Century Christians cry out for Human Rights

Paul did call out to Ceasar - which sets a legal precedent.