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Tambov Jehovah's Witnesses to be tried

CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN TAMBOV
Regions.ru, 24 March 2010

Law enforcement agencies in Tambov seized books, electronic equipment, and objects of an extremist nature which, allegedly, belong to the Jehovah's Witnesses' religious organization and a criminal case has been begun, the regional administration of the Investigative Committee of the Procuracy of the Russian federation reports. The date of the opening of the case was not specified in the report.

A Rostov provincial court ruled the Jehovah's Witnesses religious organization in Taganrog to be extremist on 11 September 2009, at the behest of the prosecutor's office, and it banned its activity. More than 30 titles of religious literature, seized in the society, were ruled extremist. This decision was confirmed by the Supreme Court of RF on 8 December 2009 and it took legal effect.

According to information from the investigation, representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses delivered extremist materials to a resident of Tambov and instructed her by this literature that proclaimed the superiority of one religion over another, Interfax-Religiia reports.

"In the course of searches conducted by an investigator, objects of literature and electronic media depicting the activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious group and promoting religious hatred and strife were seized, along with more than 100 books and pamphlets that are included in the federal list of extremist materials," the report states.

The investigation has established all representatives of the religious group. The criminal case was opened on the basis of part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code of RF (incitement of hatred or strive and also infringement of human dignity on the basis of religious identity) which provides for imprisonment for a term of two years.

"Jehovah's Witnesses" are an international religious organization. In the opinion of the Russian Orthodox church and other traditional confessions of Russia, and of a number of investigators, it is a totalitarian, pseudo-Christian sect. According to accounts of the organization itself, it comprised around 7 million members in August of last year.

Members of the organization refuse blood transfusions and do not celebrate state and secular holidays. The activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses is forbidden in China, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and a number of other countries.

The Administrative Center of the religious organization in RF is located in St. Petersburg and it was registered by the Ministry of Justice. According to data from the center, there are 408 registered local divisions in Russia. In a number of cities of Russia, the activity of the organization is forbidden by court decisions. These decisions have been challenged in the Supreme Court of RF and in the European Court for Human Rights. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 March 2010)

Related article:  Court orders searches of Jehovah's Witnesses' homes

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Fire in Jehovah's Witnesses' building

NEW ARSON OF HOUSE OF WORSHIP?
Press Service of Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, March 2010

In the night of 20 March 2010, fire broke out in the Jehovah's Witnesses "Kingdom Hall," with a capacity for 160 persons, in the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol territory. No one was injured, but the ceiling and audience seats burned. One possible cause is arson committed by a criminal who entered the attic through a door above the fire escape. Believers submitted to the police a request for opening a criminal case.

The building already had been the object of vandalism. Thus, some time earlier vandals broke into the yard and painted a star of David on the wall. This was not the first such incident after the decision of the court liquidating the Jehovah's Witnesses local religion organization of Taganrog, Rostov province. A bottle with flammable liquid was thrown into the Kingdom Hall of Volzhsk in the night of 1 January 2010. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 March 2010)

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Anti-Jehovah's Witnesses propaganda in schools

HOSTILITY AGAINST JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES INCITED IN FOUNDATIONS OF ORTHODOX CULTURE CLASS BY ORDER OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS
Portal-credo.ru, 22 March 2010

A film about how Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) "kill people" was  shown at a class on "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" (OPK) in the 8th grade of school No. 12 of Staryi Oskol, Belgorod province, on 9 February, the Press Service of the Administrative Center of JW in Russia reported in mid-March. This became known from a letter of a pupil of this class, who did not attend the OPK class for religious reasons and knows about the film from the words of her classmates, the majority of whom believed the information contained in it.

This is not the first incident in Belgorod province schools when inter-religious hostility was sown. Thus, an OPK teacher and assistant director for educational work of the Bekhteevsk school of Korocha region declared that they were given an instruction to acquaint all the children with the contents of a flier, "Jehovah's Witnesses! Who are you, sirs?" containing negative information about adherents of this religion. These fliers were issued in schools throughout the region.

In the Korocha educational administration, the director of the Center for Evaluation of Quality of Education, L.V. Zolotova, explained that she received this flier and the recommendation for its distribution from the director of the apparat of the administration of Korocha region, Belgorod province, S.A. Sukhov, and she confirmed that one of the reasons for issuing this flier was to get children of JW to refuse to attend OPK classes.

The prosecutor of Korocha region, Belgorod province, issued a warning to the directors of the schools of the region and heads of the regional department of education regarding the impermissibility of violating the legislation "On freedom of conscience and religious associations," "On combating extremism," and "On education." The offensive flier was printed in the publishing center of the Belgorod "Znanie" society in the quantity of 50,000 copies. At the present time an investigation regarding the printing of this flier is being conducted in the Center for Combating Extremism of the internal affairs department of Belgorod province. (tr. by PDS,  posted 24 March 2010)

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Jehovah's Witness cleared in court

CASE AGAINST CHAIRMAN OF VOLGODONSK  JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CLOSED BY JUDGE    
Portal-credo.ru, 24 March 2010

The proceedings were terminated on the case of administrative law violation against the chairman of the Jehovah's Witnesses local religious organization in the city of Volgodonsk, Rostov province, Sergei Vladimirovich Sheikin, a Portal-credo.ru correspondent reports. The case was closed on 9 March 2010 by Justice of the Peace of the 7th judicial district of Volgodonsk, I.E. Solovieva.

S. Sheikin was accused of administrative law violation on the basis that he had submitted to a state agency incomplete information about the staff of the Jehovah's Witnesses local religious organization in the city of Volgodonsk. In particular, he did not include in this list N.D. Telegina, L.G. Saunova, and G.S. Karlova, who had engaged in preaching their faith. It was established in the court session that the indicated persons were not officially members of the Jehovah's Witnesses local religious organization. According to the charter of the Jehovah's Witnesses local religious organization, which was registered with the justice agencies, "persons who are not members of the organization may, in accordance with their right to freedom of conscience and religious confession, participate in the activities of the organization and events conducted by it, in accordance with the general canonical (spiritual) principles of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious confession. The organization does not bear responsibility for the independent actions of its members and other persons. . . . Inasmuch as N.D. Telegina, L.G. Sapunova, and G.S. Karlova, who were arrested by law enforcement agencies for distribution of religious literature, are not members of the Jehovah's Witnesses local religious organization, the actions of S.V. Sheikin do not constitute an administrative law violation as provided by article 19.7 of the Russian federation Code on Administrative Law Violations. . . . The proceedings on the administrative case with respect to S.V. Sheikin for commission of an administrative law violation . . . are terminated because of absence of an administrative law violation." (tr. by PDS, posted 24 March 2010)

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Survey of religious affiliation gives surprising results

SELF-IDENTIFICATION OF "ORTHODOX" GROWS IN RUSSIA
Portal-credo.ru, 24 March 2010

A. Bagrina reported that in January-February the "Public Opinion" foundation conducted a sociological survey of 2,000 persons in many of the component elements of the federation. She said that the results of the survey amazed specialists. Support for Orthodoxy turned out to be unusually greater.

The self-identification of citizens according to the results of this survey turned out to be as follows:
Atheists, 11%
Believers in powers of nature and many gods, 2%
Buddhists, 2%
Followers of Islam, 7%
Orthodox, not attending church, 27%
Orthodox, occasionally attending church, 11%
Orthodox, regularly attending church, confession, communion, 34%

In all, Orthodox constituted 72% of the population, and their numbers in the past year or two have increased by 12%. But at the same time the numbers of those regularly attending church has not grown; that is, the "Orthodox" growth is quantitative and not qualitative.

Among those regularly attending church, women, retirees, and housewives; Orthodox not attending church are not distinguished by any cohort of the population.

Self-identification as "Orthodox" is not influenced by level of education and income but is influenced by sex and age: "Orthodox" are fewer among men and youth. However among Orthodox Christians there are more youth than among Muslims.

The social basis of Islam is in the rural areas, but Orthodoxy is in the large cities.

Among those questioned, more people experience trust toward the Russian Orthodox church and Patriarch Kirill than are inclined to indulge in critical statements against clergy and Patriarch Kirill personally. Many are generally indifferent to criticism of RPTsMP.

But at the same time, Orthodoxy to a great extent for people is only a matter of self-identification.  (tr. by PDS, posted 24 March 2010)

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Jehovah's Witnesses evangelists arrested while visiting deaf folk

TWO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARRESTED IN TAMBOV
Press Service of Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 23-24 March 2010

As has become known at the Press Service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, today, 23 March, at about 1:00 p.m., police officers arrested two Jehovah's Witnesses in Tambov, Irina Nikolaevna Yakovleva and Daria Nikolaevna Kalushina. They were taken to No. 2 police station in Tambov. The believers had only a Bible and each had a recent issue of the Watchtower magazine.

As believers reported by telephone, at the police department they were required to be fingerprinted. Then the communication was interrupted.

[24 March 2010]
Around 9:00 p.m. the detained Jehovah's Witnesses were released.

As has become clear, in the afternoon the women were witnessing to deaf people. Upon leaving the house around 1:00 p.m. they were approached by two men in civilian clothes, one of whom was precinct detective D.A. Zenin, and they were told to go with them to the police station without any explanation of the reason. When the believers asked "are you arresting us or inviting us," the answer came, "we are inviting you." The women replied: "In that case can we not agree?"  

"If you do not come, we will call a squad of police."

After this the believers were forced to follow the men in civilian clothes to the police department.

In all the time they stayed in the department they were not accused of anything. On the basis of article 51 of the constitution of the Russian federation, the women refused to provide any information about themselves and their families. At the department Senior Lieutenant R.V. Panov talked with the believers. In response to numerous appeals from relatives, fellow believers, and an attorney, police officers of the Lenin internal affairs department said that the detainees were released soon after their arrest.  They were not shown any documents, on the basis of which the arrest had been made.

Despite their possession of documents confirming their identity, they were detained more than 8 hours. To the question of why the detention dragged out so long, police officers answered that they had a lot of work.  (tr. by PDS, posted 24 March 2010)

Russian original posted on Religiia v svetskom obshchestve site, 23-24 March 2010.

Related article:  Court orders searches of Jehovah's Witnesses' homes

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Government support for faith-based services

STATE DUMA ADOPTS ON SECOND READING BILL ALLOWING THE STATE TO PROVIDE HELP TO RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
Interfax, 19 March 2010

On Friday the State Duma adopted on second reading a presidential draft law concerning support of socially oriented noncommercial organizations.

"In the course of preparation for the second reading almost 60 amendments were submitted. We accepted just two. The chief amendment is that religious organizations also are included in the list of noncommercial organizations which may be considered socially oriented," the head of the duma Committee on Matters of Public Associations and Religious Organizations, Sergei Popov, told an Interfax-Religiia correspondent.

He said that in the original version of the document it had not been proposed that such a status could apply to religious organizations.

The deputy noted that "the overwhelming majority of religious organizations of Russia, both the Russian Orthodox church and Muslim and others, are actively engaged in sufficiently broad social activity and all of our leading confessions have special projects and programs: such as providing aid to people with many children or who are homeless who experience difficulties in life."

"This work of religious organizations is very comprehensive, multifaceted, positive, and certainly requires support on the part of the state. Thus it would be unjust when making a decision about the forms and methods of support for many noncommercial organizations to forget about the religious ones," he emphasized.

S. Popov reported that the law provides extremely diverse forms of support:  financial, property, informational, and consultative.

After the adoption of the basic law, corresponding draft laws should be prepared at the level of constituent elements of the Russian federation and agencies of local administration. They would, in particular, determine a list of moveable and immoveable property which could be transferred as a form of aid and regulate questions connected with definite privileges for legal entities that provide financial aid to religious organizations in their social activity.

The head of the duma committee suggested that after adoption of this law changes will be introduced into the law about charitable activity and the Tax Code.

"The law should encourage authorities in the provinces to include in their budgets specific amounts for providing support for socially oriented noncommercial organizations and not only religious ones.  Much complex work for resolving all these issues lies ahead. This draft law is the locomotive that determines the basic directions and prospects," the agency's interlocutor declared.

S. Popov indicated that before adoption of this draft law, "on the level, for example, of local self-administration, perhaps they would want to provide some kind of aid to one or another religious organization, but there was no legal basis for this, but with the adoption of this draft law such juridical bases will appear."

The parliamentarian also emphasized that no noncommercial organization "will automatically receive the high status of a socially oriented organization; it will have to deserve itÑa corresponding procedure will be worked out for how the specific registers are conducted." (tr. by PDS, posted 23 March 2010)

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Renewed vandalism at Pentecostal church

PENZA SECT FIGHTER INTERRUPTS SERVICE OF EVANGELICAL CHURCH
Press Service of Russian Asssociated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, 19 March 2010

On 18 March there was supposed to be a regular evening worship service in the Penza "Living Faith" evangelical church.

However, parishioners arriving at the church were so upset that instead of a service they had to call a squad of police and journalists of the local television channel. What happened is that on the fence next to the church there appeared an inscription in red paint, "Beware--sect," from which an arrow pointed in the direction of the evangelical chrch. Considering the event of the previous day, there was plenty of reason for the parishioner's concern.

Literally one day before this incident, on 17 March a young priest from the Holy Martyr Tatiana chapel within the Penza State Architectural and construction University, Oleg Andreev [25 years old] was arrested. He was distributing pamphlets with false information discrediting the "Living Faith" church and he had written the word "sect" in large red letters on the church building. He issued threats against the evangelical believers and said that he possessed information about their families and was not acting alone.

The fanatically minded sect fighter was on the same day taken to the department of internal affairs and after questioning was released before clarification of the circumstances of the case. Judging by everything, he did not abandon his idea of provoking conflict and he himself, or his followers posted a new provocational inscription.

Parishioners of the "Living Faith" church expressed the concern that such actions of an Orthodox minister, directed at the incitement of religious strife, could lead to more serious extremist outcomes. As is known, such incidents already have occurred in various regions of the country, when after sect fighting statements, evangelical churches have been set afire, attacks on clergy have happened, and the constitutional rights of believers have been violated. Parishioners of the "Living Faith" church, among whom there are many families with several children, expressed their concerns for the life and health of their loved ones in letters to the governor of Penza province.

Officers of law enforcement agencies and journalists who came to the place of the event established new instances of insults against evangelical Christians. We recall that several hours before this incident the church submitted a declaration regarding the case of inciting religious strife to the investigating committee of the prosecutor's office and the internal affairs department.  (tr. by PDS, posted 19 March 2010)

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Jehovah's Witnesses fined for literature

"JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES" ARRESTED FOR TRANSPORTING EXTREMIST LITERATURE
Regions.ru, 15 March 2010

On 12 March a justice of the peace of judicial district 216 of Tuapsin region of Krasnodar territory reviewed the case concerning administrative violation of the law with respect to Sevak Mesropian and Artem Zograbian, who were arrested on 11 March. They were  transporting in their car's trunk Jehovah's Witnesses' literature that Mesropian had ordered by mail for personal use. According to the recipient, he did not know that these books are included in the federal list of extremist literature, SOVA-center reports.

The court found the detainees guilty under article 20.29 of the Code on Administrative Violations of Law of the Russian federation (production and distribution of extremist materials). Zograbian was fined 1,000 rubles and Mesropian, 2,000 rubles. The judge ruled that the books that were seized be confiscated and destroyed. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 March 2010)

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Orthodox priest attacks Pentecostals' property

MAN ARRESTED IN PENZA FOR INSULTING PROTESTANTS
Interfax, 17 March 2010

In Penza a man was arrested who had written the word "sect" on a snowbank near the building of the "Living Faith" evangelical church.

The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon. The inscription was made in large red letter with a spray can. The pastors prevented the miscreant from finishing the phrase and made him wait for the police, an Interfax-Religiia correspondent was told at the press service of the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals).

"Judging by everything, the author figured that his inscription would be seen by everyone who passed by on the roadway. Among the first to see it were representatives of extradepartmental security whose vehicle was stopped by ministers of the church. Several minutes later another squad of police arrived and carted the disturber of the peace to the internal affairs department," the agency's source said.

Similar inscriptions had already appeared earlier on the signboard identifying the church.

According to latest information reaching the Pentecostal press service, the identity of the violator of the law has been established. He turns out to be a priest, Oleg Andreev, the rector of the chapel within the Penza State Architectural and Construction Academy, which is located not far from the "Living Faith" church. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 March 2010)

"EVANGELISTIC ACTIVITY" WITH SPRAY CAN IN HAND
by Sergei Kireev
Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, 17 March 2010

On 17 March in Penza, around 14:30, parishioners leaving the "Living Faith" protestant church were surprised to observe a picture of a bearded young man with a spray can in his hands finishing writing the word "sect" next to the church's fence.

After the amazed people asked what this man was doing, he answered them:  "I am doing my evangelistic duty." In the course of conversation the man admitted that he receives a lot of money for this kind of activity. After which he identified himself as a priest of the Russian Orthodox church and he tried to disappear but he was stopped by officers of extradepartmental security who by good fortune happened to be driving by and who subsequently transferred him to officers of the Center for Combating Extremism in Penza province.

The witnesses to this "evangelistic act" learned that the man was Oleg Andreev, a recently ordained priest of the Holy Martyr Tatiana chapel within the Penza State Architectural and Construction University.

This priest "evangelist," who threatened the believers with punishment, said that some "they" (implying that he was not acting alone) know all about the family and children of the clergy of "Living Faith" church.

In light of the events of terror against the clergy and their families that have occurred--it is sufficient to recall the murder of Fr Daniil Sysoev, arson in the home of the family of a priest in Tver province, and other such incidents--these threats have very much upset the mother and fathers of parishioners and clergy of the "Living Faith" church with many children.

An authorized representative of the president of the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith for Penza province, Sergei Strokov, and the bishop of the Union of Christians in the Volga region, Oleg Serov, do not associate the actions of the priest Andreev with the official position of RPTs, considering that people inclined to provocative acts can be in any confession and their actions undoubtedly compromise their confession. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 March 2010)

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