RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS
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Russia
Religion News Current News Items
Anti-JW campaign causes violence against believers
IN EKATERINBURG PRIEST (?) SEVERELY BEATS WOMAN JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
Press Service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia
On 10 June 2010 at 16:00, Jehovah's Witnesses Valentina Sivacheva, 69, and Tatiana Kvashnina were sharing their religious convictions with residents of building No. 70 on Lenin Prospect in the city of Ekaterinburg. One of them rang the bell at apartment No. 136 and tactfully asked through the door: "May I ask you a question on the basis of the Bible?" From behind the door there was heard profanity and so the believers said good-bye and left.
Suddenly from out of this apartment jumped a man, approximately 50 years old, in the clothing of an Orthodox clergyman (black robe with large metallic cross around his neck and characteristic head dress), and he pounced upon Valentina Sivacheva. He seized her by her clothing and began delivering numerous blows with his hands on her head. The woman tried to escape, but she suffered a strong blow to the head and fell. The man began kicking her, including in the stomach, and punched her head and neck and seized her bag. The woman shouted for help, fearing for her life, since the man threatened in a rage to throw her down from the fifth floor. Fortunately, the women managed to get out the exit of the building.
Valentina Sivacheva went to a medical clinic complaining of headache, dizziness, nausea, and high blood pressure. The wounds were treated and the woman sent a statement to the chief of the department of internal affairs for the city of Ekaterinburg, police lieutenant A.E. Malikova, regarding instituting criminal proceedings for the incident of physical harm and verbal threats of murder on the basis of religious hatred and enmity, and for abuse and illegal obstruction of the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and religious confession. According to the district police commissioner, Alexander Petrov, the attacker, Aleksei Yamov, "has ties with the Orthodox church."
Believers think that such manifestations of intolerance are the consequence of the mass campaign intended to discredit Jehovah's Witnesses in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile, on 10 June 2010, the European Court for Human Rights issued a decision in which from the point of view of the law the dissemination of accusations against Jehovah's Witnesses was disapproved and the actions of bureaucrats seeking the liquidation of their congregation in the city of Moscow were condemned. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 June 2010)
Russian original posted on SOVA site, 24 June 2010
BARNAUL PROSECUTOR CALLS CITY RESIDENTS TO BE CAUTIOUS WHEN DEALING WITH "SECTARIANS"
Portal-credo.ru, 23 June 2010
The prosecutor of Barnaul addressed a request to residents of the territorial center to manifest caution in relations with religious "sects," including such religious organizations as "Jehovah's Witnesses," the news agency "Bankfax" reported on 22 June, citing the city administration's website.
In its appeal the prosecutor's office referred to materials of a certain expert analysis conducted in 1999 in the course of hearing a civil case in a St. Petersburg court. The court's decision, according to information of the Barnaul prosecutor's office, ruled that the word "sect" with respect to Jehovah's Witnesses is legally proper and "cannot offend anybody's feelings."
A senior advisor of the prosecutor's office of the city, Evgeny Serbov, recalls that in the 1990s in Russia there was noted the destructive role of certain religious "sects," which caused significant harm to the spiritual life of Russian society and posed a direct danger to the life and health of citizens and was often used as a cover for various forms of illegal activity. In criminology, such "sects" often are labeled "totalitarian," the bureaucrat declared.
The representative of the prosecutor's office reported that article 239 of the Criminal Code of RF is aimed at combating such "sects," "establishing responsibility for the creation of a religious or public association, whose activity is accompanied by violence against citizens or by other causes of harm to their health or by encouragement of citizens to refuse to fulfill their civic responsibilities or by other illegal actions, as well as leadership of such associations or participation in their activity and propaganda of the above-indicated illegal actions." However, nothing is known of any sentences against Jehovah's Witnesses on the basis of this article.
Jehovah's Witnesses' activity has been observed on the territory of Altai territory. They enjoy special influence in the region of the cities of Slavgorod and Yarovoe, where, according to the opinion of a number of experts, they have more adherents than does any other confession.
Evgeny Serbov reports that in 2008-2009 there was an increase in Altai territory of incidents of refusal of blood transfusion on the basis of religious belief by adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses. At the same time, members of the religious organization often display to medical workers "No blood" statements with power of attorney with respect to medical intervention, on forms that they have received from leaders of religious organizations.
According to Evgeny Serbov, such incidents have been observed in Barnaul, Novoaltaisk, Rubtsovsk, and Slavgorod. In a number of cases, such actions have led to severe consequences. According to the statement of the senior adviser of the city prosecutor's office, children have suffered from the actions of members of religious organizations when their parents, for religious reasons, refused to let health care institutions use blood transfusions.
Meanwhile, regional news media have not reported such information. Even Mr. Serbov himself did not produce any concrete facts that confirmed his assertion.
The senior advisor emphasized that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor), by an order of 16 April, annulled the permission for distribution on the territory of Russia of the foreign publications "Awake" and "Watchtower," which are among materials that have been ruled "extremist" by decisions of courts. Such decisions were issued by courts in Gorno-Altaisk and Rostov province.
In 2010, after such decisions were issued in Russia, siloviki [agents of power ministries] developed a campaign of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses. Reports of illegal searches, arrest, confiscation of property, and disruption of worship service have appeared practically daily in news media. In this year alone, about a half dozen such incidents have been observed in the Altai territory. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 June 2010)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication from which it came.
Anti-JW campaign causes violence against believers
IN EKATERINBURG PRIEST (?) SEVERELY BEATS WOMAN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSPress Service of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia
On 10 June 2010 at 16:00, Jehovah's Witnesses Valentina Sivacheva, 69, and Tatiana Kvashnina were sharing their religious convictions with residents of building No. 70 on Lenin Prospect in the city of Ekaterinburg. One of them rang the bell at apartment No. 136 and tactfully asked through the door: "May I ask you a question on the basis of the Bible?" From behind the door there was heard profanity and so the believers said good-bye and left.
Suddenly from out of this apartment jumped a man, approximately 50 years old, in the clothing of an Orthodox clergyman (black robe with large metallic cross around his neck and characteristic head dress), and he pounced upon Valentina Sivacheva. He seized her by her clothing and began delivering numerous blows with his hands on her head. The woman tried to escape, but she suffered a strong blow to the head and fell. The man began kicking her, including in the stomach, and punched her head and neck and seized her bag. The woman shouted for help, fearing for her life, since the man threatened in a rage to throw her down from the fifth floor. Fortunately, the women managed to get out the exit of the building.
Valentina Sivacheva went to a medical clinic complaining of headache, dizziness, nausea, and high blood pressure. The wounds were treated and the woman sent a statement to the chief of the department of internal affairs for the city of Ekaterinburg, police lieutenant A.E. Malikova, regarding instituting criminal proceedings for the incident of physical harm and verbal threats of murder on the basis of religious hatred and enmity, and for abuse and illegal obstruction of the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and religious confession. According to the district police commissioner, Alexander Petrov, the attacker, Aleksei Yamov, "has ties with the Orthodox church."
Believers think that such manifestations of intolerance are the consequence of the mass campaign intended to discredit Jehovah's Witnesses in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile, on 10 June 2010, the European Court for Human Rights issued a decision in which from the point of view of the law the dissemination of accusations against Jehovah's Witnesses was disapproved and the actions of bureaucrats seeking the liquidation of their congregation in the city of Moscow were condemned. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 June 2010)
Russian original posted on SOVA site, 24 June 2010
BARNAUL PROSECUTOR CALLS CITY RESIDENTS TO BE CAUTIOUS WHEN DEALING WITH "SECTARIANS"
Portal-credo.ru, 23 June 2010
The prosecutor of Barnaul addressed a request to residents of the territorial center to manifest caution in relations with religious "sects," including such religious organizations as "Jehovah's Witnesses," the news agency "Bankfax" reported on 22 June, citing the city administration's website.
In its appeal the prosecutor's office referred to materials of a certain expert analysis conducted in 1999 in the course of hearing a civil case in a St. Petersburg court. The court's decision, according to information of the Barnaul prosecutor's office, ruled that the word "sect" with respect to Jehovah's Witnesses is legally proper and "cannot offend anybody's feelings."
A senior advisor of the prosecutor's office of the city, Evgeny Serbov, recalls that in the 1990s in Russia there was noted the destructive role of certain religious "sects," which caused significant harm to the spiritual life of Russian society and posed a direct danger to the life and health of citizens and was often used as a cover for various forms of illegal activity. In criminology, such "sects" often are labeled "totalitarian," the bureaucrat declared.
The representative of the prosecutor's office reported that article 239 of the Criminal Code of RF is aimed at combating such "sects," "establishing responsibility for the creation of a religious or public association, whose activity is accompanied by violence against citizens or by other causes of harm to their health or by encouragement of citizens to refuse to fulfill their civic responsibilities or by other illegal actions, as well as leadership of such associations or participation in their activity and propaganda of the above-indicated illegal actions." However, nothing is known of any sentences against Jehovah's Witnesses on the basis of this article.
Jehovah's Witnesses' activity has been observed on the territory of Altai territory. They enjoy special influence in the region of the cities of Slavgorod and Yarovoe, where, according to the opinion of a number of experts, they have more adherents than does any other confession.
Evgeny Serbov reports that in 2008-2009 there was an increase in Altai territory of incidents of refusal of blood transfusion on the basis of religious belief by adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses. At the same time, members of the religious organization often display to medical workers "No blood" statements with power of attorney with respect to medical intervention, on forms that they have received from leaders of religious organizations.
According to Evgeny Serbov, such incidents have been observed in Barnaul, Novoaltaisk, Rubtsovsk, and Slavgorod. In a number of cases, such actions have led to severe consequences. According to the statement of the senior adviser of the city prosecutor's office, children have suffered from the actions of members of religious organizations when their parents, for religious reasons, refused to let health care institutions use blood transfusions.
Meanwhile, regional news media have not reported such information. Even Mr. Serbov himself did not produce any concrete facts that confirmed his assertion.
The senior advisor emphasized that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor), by an order of 16 April, annulled the permission for distribution on the territory of Russia of the foreign publications "Awake" and "Watchtower," which are among materials that have been ruled "extremist" by decisions of courts. Such decisions were issued by courts in Gorno-Altaisk and Rostov province.
In 2010, after such decisions were issued in Russia, siloviki [agents of power ministries] developed a campaign of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses. Reports of illegal searches, arrest, confiscation of property, and disruption of worship service have appeared practically daily in news media. In this year alone, about a half dozen such incidents have been observed in the Altai territory. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 June 2010)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication from which it came.
It is not necessary to credit this Web page. If material is transmitted
electronically, please include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.