Jehovah’s Witnesses Kick As Russia Moves To Ban Christian Group
The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has called on all its over 7 million members worldwide to campaign against an imminent threat by Russia to ban the Christian denomination from country.
This move comes as Russia’s Supreme Court continues hearing on Thursday a request by the government to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses and declare the Christian group an extremist organisation. Hearing in the case began Wednesday.
The group has 175,000 members in Russia and 395 branches across the country.
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According to the organisation’s website, jw.org, David A. Semonian, a spokesman at the Witnesses’ world headquarters said, prosecuting non-violent, law-abiding citizens as if they were terrorists is clearly a misapplication of anti-extremist laws, adding that the prosecution is based on completely false grounds.
Semonian added, “Reading the Bible, singing, and praying with fellow worshippers is clearly not criminal.
“We hope that our global letter-writing campaign will motivate Russian officials to stop this unjustifiable action against our fellow worshippers.”
Recall that on March 15, the Russian government filed a suit to outlaw the organisation, which is already considered an extremist group in St. Petersburg where it is headquartered. The suit also seeks to ban the activities of the Administrative Center.
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Lawyers for the group filed a counter suit before Wednesday’s hearing, saying they are victims of political repression.
The court, however, said it’s “ineligible to review this lawsuit” because other courts are responsible for determining whether a person or group have been politically repressed.
If the Supreme Court upholds this claim, the Witnesses’ national headquarters will be shut down. Subsequently, some 400 registered Local Religious Organizations would be liquidated, outlawing the services of over 2,300 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
The branch property, as well as places of worship used by Witnesses throughout the country, could be seized by the State. Additionally, individual Jehovah’s Witnesses would become subject to criminal prosecution for merely carrying out their worship activities.
