RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Jehovah's Witnesses in northern Siberia warned by prosecutor

FSB PERSONNEL RAID BRANCH OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN UDACHNY

News.Ykt.ru, 16 June 2016

 

Personnel of the Directorate of the Federal Security Service (FSB) were interested in the Society of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Udachny, Yakutia. Members of this society actively recruited new devotees, delivered lectures, and distributed suspicious literature.

 

The FSB reports that it issued a representation to the director of the committee of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, Viktor Kobzar, after he and his associates recruited new devotees by distributing suspicious literature.

 

The teacher told stories about a bright future and explained the rights of members of the society: Jehovah's Witnesses are forbidden to participate in elections, to serve in the army, to engage in sports, to receive donor's blood, and to celebrate birthdays. Their obligations are to tell people what they learned from their teachers. So they went from house to house distributing literature.

 

From the report of the Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the republic of Sakha (Yakutia): "Followers of this religious organization received from the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses literature that is prohibited free circulation on the territory of the Russian federation, they kept it in their apartments, they studied it daily, and the offered it to local residents with whom they became acquainted. Experts think that the aforementioned sources of information contain indicators of reasons or justification of citizens' refusal to fulfill civic obligations and encouragement of a hostile attitude toward people who profess other religions."

 

The report notes that the leadership itself encourages its members to acquire religious literature, printed materials of religious contents, and to distribute it to followers of a religious teaching that instructs them to ignore the requirements of Russian legislation.

 

From the report of the Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the republic of Sakha (Yakutia): "In order to prevent in the future repeated, similar violations as enumerated above, the prosecutor's office of the city of Udachny issued to Viktor Kobzar, who is the director of the committee of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of Udachny, a representation concerning the elimination of the violations of federal legislation."

 

As a result of measures taken, forbidden printed editions were confiscated and are subject to destruction, the press service of the agency noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 June 2016)

 


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