JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES PAY FINE FOR THEIR EXTREMIST ACTIVITY
The editorial staff of the Govorun26 news
agency has learned
from its own sources in law enforcement agencies that recently
there has been
noticed increasingly active missionary activity by members of the
foreign
religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) for spreading
their teaching
among the population. According to our information, they use
widely a powerful
tool for influencing the personality and depriving an individual
of his own
judgments and conviction, leading to mind control, surrender of
free will, and imposition
of a system of values and taboos promoted by the JW.
At the same time, the
ministry of adherents of the sect is evaluated in accordance with
their
evangelistic activism (they take into account details of
"door-to-door
ministry" and involvement of citizens in all regions, in monthly
audits),
and the practical activity of the leaders and activists is
evidence of their
striving for financial and material enrichment, including by means
of obtaining
use of the property of rank-and-file members of the organization.
At the same
time, local branches of JW do not have the right to make
independent decisions,
as they are a transmission point for implementing the decisions of
the
administrative center of the organization.
Informational materials of the
Jehovah's Witnesses have an extremist character and to a great
extent they
encourage citizens to refuse to perform civic duties and to
perform other
illegal acts. Jehovah's Witnesses forbid blood transfusion, even
in cases of
the necessity of saving life, and they also do not permit
participation in
elections and referendums, service in the army, respecting state
emblems, and
acknowledging the government. They strongly recommend not to
engage in public
and educational activities, because they interfere with
evangelism. JW often
violate existing Russian laws, as evidenced by a number of
criminal cases and
judicial verdicts on Russian territory. At the present time, cells
of JW have
been liquidated by judicial procedure in the cities of Taganrog
and Samara.
This religious movement is characterized as sectarian by
specialists of the
Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and
Sects. The
deceptive recruitment by JW consists in not telling an individual
about the
goals, methods, and duties of the organization, that is, its true
essence is
concealed and sometimes even its name. The methods of mind control
are
concealed and often they are silent about the name and country of
origin of the
leader of the structure. Thus, the constitutional right of
citizens to reliable
information is violated, without which nobody can make a free
choice.
Mind
control comprises a set of methods by which the psychological
destabilization
of an individual is achieved in order to suppress free will,
eliminate critical
thinking, and impose the system of values of this sect, which
violate the
common human system of values and morals generally accepted in
society, to
achieve the complete and unqualified submission of the convert.
The main
efforts of destructive religious organizations of a number of
foreign states
are aimed at the all-round weakening of the Russian federation,
all the way to
the destruction of sovereignty. Special attention is devoted to
the radical
change of the constitutional structure and political course of
Russia. At the
present time, foreign forces are placing a fundamental bet on the
potential of
the newly created local religious associations of various
denominations.
Thus, on 25 March 2016, as the result of joint
activity of
the Center for Combating Extremism of the Directorate of the
Ministry of
Internal Affairs of Russia for Stavropol territory at the site of
the so-called
Kingdom Hall of the local religious organization of Jehovah's
Witnesses,
located in the city of Stavropol, on Vasilev Street, building 43a,
religious literature
was discovered and seized, which is included in the Federal List
of Extremist
Materials of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation.
The materials
obtained were sent to the prosecutor's office of the Promyshlenyi
district of
the city of Stavropol for the enactment of measures of
prosecutorial response.
As a result of the examination conducted with respect to the local
religious
organization of JW in the city of Stavropol, an administrative
procedure was
initiated on the basis of article 20.29 of the Code of
Administrative
Violations of Law of the RF, "production and distribution of
extremist
materials." On 24 June 2016 the Promyshlenyi district court of
Stavropol
held the local religious organization of JW of Stavropol
administratively accountable
in the form of a fine of the sum of 100,000 rubles. (tr. by PDS,
posted 6 July
2016)
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