LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES FILE 395 PETITIONS IN SUPREME COURT FOR ENTRY INTO CASE
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 31 March 2017
All 395 local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, which the Ministry of Justice is trying to ban behind their backs, have filed petitions in the Supreme Court to be involved in the case in the capacity of co-defendants.
According to existing legislation, all local religious organizations are individual legal entities, with their own property, and they are not structural subdivisions, affiliates, nor representatives of one another. They are united to the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia only by unity in the faith and internal canonical relations.
An absolute majority of these organizations have never been accused of violating the law. They are puzzled why the Ministry of Justice is demanding their liquidation, prohibition, and recognition as "extremist," especially behind their back. They are especially alarmed that after the liquidation of the organizations, believers may be held criminally liable merely for joint reading of the Bible, as shown by the criminal "Case of the Sixteen" in Taganrog. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 April 2017)
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