RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Court in Krasnodar dissolves Jehovah's Witnesses congregation

KRASNODAR TERRITORIAL COURT RULES LOCAL CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES "EXTREMIST"

Portal-credo.ru, 4 March 2015

 

On 4 March, a Krasnodar territorial court granted the lawsuit of the prosecutor of the territory for finding the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Abinsk extremist and liquidating it, Interfax reports.

 

"To recognize as extremist, to liquidate, and to remove from the Uniform State Register of Legal Entities the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Abinsk. To transfer to state ownership the property of the organization—a parcel of land of 800 square meters, and a residence of 67 square meters on Engels Street," reads the result section of the judge's decision.

 

The basis for the prosecutor's suit, in accordance with article 7 of the federal law "On combating extremist activity," were incidents of the distribution by members of the local religious organization of the publications "Humanity in search of God," and "What does the Bible really teach?" as well as "The Bible: God's word or man's?" that are included in the federal list of extremist materials.

 

Thus, according to information from the prosecutor's office, in 2010 one of the founders of the organization, Igor Soroka, was held administratively responsible (fine) for mass distribution of prohibited literature. In addition, in 2012 another founder, Albert Belikov, again distributed books included in the list of extremist materials and he also was fined.

 

The Abinsk prosecutor delivered a warning to the religious organization regarding the impermissibility of extremist activity, which the Jehovah's Witnesses did not challenge in court.

 

Attorneys representing the interests of the Jehovah's Witnesses called the court's decision illegal and unreasonable and a violation of the constitutional rights of believers. In connection with this, they intend to file an appeal in the Supreme Court of Russia in the near future.

 

As evidence, the defense presented to the court minutes concerning the removal of I. Soroka and A. Belikov from the committee (administrative body) and general meeting of members of the local religious organization. Therefore, the attorneys maintained, at the time of the commission of the violation of law, they were not then members of the organization, and they distributed the literature solely on their own initiative.

 

The local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Abinsk was registered in November 1999. At the present time, there are 11 members of the organization. Around 200 believers professing the religious doctrine reside in the city of Abinsk. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 March 2015)


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