KARELIAN
PROSECUTOR'S
OFFICE WANTS TO SEIZE BUILDING OF FINNISH JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
THROUGH COURT
Stolitsa
na
Onego, 6 February 2018
In
the
Petrozavodsk city court consideration has begun of a civil
lawsuit by the
prosecutor's office against a Finnish religious organization,
Jehovan Todistaja
(Jehovah's Witnesses*).
The
plaintiff's
declaration was sent to the court over the signature of a deputy
prosecutor of
Karelia, Eduard Gusakov.
We
recall that
the Petrozavodsk organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is located
at the address
52 Pervomaisk Prospect. In 2016 it was fined 50,000 rubles for
distributing
extremist materials. In April 2017, by a decision of the Russian
Supreme Court,
the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and
its
member local religious organizations were liquidated and their
activity was
prohibited. The court's decision took effect in July 2017.
By
law, its
property is subject to transfer to state ownership.
The
Petrozavodsk
organization owned premises of 459.9 square meters at the 52
Pervomaisk
address. The right
to it extended
to 29 March 2017 because on 14 March the Petrozavodsk Jehovah's
Witnesses
donated the space to the Finnish organization Jehovan Todistaja.
It is located
in the Finnish city of Vantaa.
The
prosecutor's
office thinks that the organizations concluded the agreement in
order to retain
the property in the ownership of the world religious
organization of Jehovah's
Witnesses with the aim of possible continuation of illegal
activity.
The
prosecutor's
office asks that the donation agreement be found invalid and
that the right of
federal ownership of the nonresidential property at 52
Pervomaisk Prospect be
recognized.
Representatives
of
the Finnish organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (Jehovan
Todistaja) are
asking the court to refuse to satisfy the lawsuit.
*The activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization is forbidden in Russia. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 February 2018)
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