E.C.H.R.
TO
CONSIDER JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES' APPEAL AS PRIORITY
SOVA
Center
for
News and Analysis, 12 December 2017
On
1 December
2017, the European Court of Human Rights (E.C.H.R.) partially
communicated the
appeal by the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in
Russia and its
chairman, Vasily Kalin, filed on 3 February 2017.
The
plaintiffs
challenged the warning about the impermissibility of extremist
activity issued
to the Administrative Center by the prosecutor general's office
on 2 March
2016. A challenge to this warning failed in Russian courts: on
16 January 2017
the appeal by Jehovah's Witnesses against the warning was
finally turned down
by a Moscow city court.
On
20 April
2017, the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia
and 395 of
their local congregations were liquidated as an extremist
organization with
structural subdivisions. On 17 July 2017 this decision was
confirmed by the
Russian Supreme Court. These actions of the Russian authorities
were also
protested by Jehovah's Witnesses within the context of the same
appeal.
On
the basis of
article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental
Freedoms (European Convention), which guarantees the right to
freedom of
religion, along with article 11, guaranteeing the right to
freedom of
association, and article 14, prohibiting discrimination, the
plaintiffs appealed
against the illegal, unjustified, and discriminatory
interference in their
right to freedom of religion connected with the liquidation of
the
Administrative Center. In addition, on the basis of article 1 of
the
Supplementary Protocol to the European Convention, protecting
the right of
property, the confiscation of the property of the Administrative
Center was
appealed.
The
E.C.H.R.
posed to Russia the question whether in this case violation of
all aforesaid
provisions of the European Convention had really occurred. The
appeal will be
considered on an accelerated basis (priority). Answers to the
E.C.H.R.'s
questions must be presented by the Russian side before 23 March
2018.
We recall that we consider that the liquidation of the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses for extremism, prosecution of the members of their congregations, and prohibition of their texts do not have legal bases and are a clear manifestation of religious discrimination. (tr. by PDS, posted 13 December 2017)
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