AUTHORITIES
ARE
CONFISCATING ALL REAL ESTATE OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN ST.
PETERSBURG
Largest
congress
hall to be given to Almazov Medical Center
Interfax
Severo-zapad,
25 December 2017
The
administration
of the Almazov Northwest Federal Medical Research Center intends
to reequip the former large space for Jehovah's Witnesses'
worship services on
Kolomyazh Prospect of St. Petersburg for educational purposes,
Interfax was
told on Monday in the center's structure.
"There
is a
pilot project according to which, following the president's
order, it is
planned to establish a scientific and educational area on the
base of the
building at 21 Kolomyazh Prospect," the source said. He said
that the specifications
of the building do not permit its use for medical purposes but
it is suitable
for conducting educational lectures.
According
to
information of the website of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia,
the opening of
the center for conducting religious meetings of Jehovah's
Witnesses at 21
Kolomyazh Prospect was held in September 1999. The building,
built in
accordance with the plan of Finnish architect Helenios Osmo
Ilmari, was used as
a center for conducting meetings.
As
reported in a
publication of the society on 15 July 2015, the liturgical hall
has a space of
more than 1,400 square meters and on days of congresses could
accommodate 1,600
persons. According to information of the website, the center has
the largest
restroom in the city, equipped, inter alia, for people with
disabilities. There
also are ramps for the disabled at the entrance to the building
and there are
elevators in the very center.
On
14 December
2017, the website of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia reported
that
"about 40 personnel of various agencies, including the Ministry
for
Emergencies, seized and subsequently sealed the enormous
liturgical building
near the Pionerskaya metro station in St. Petersburg." The
report notes
that the last worship service in the building was held on 11
April 2017.
An
informed
source told Interfax that the Russian representation of
Jehovah's Witnesses had
55 articles of real estate located in St. Petersburg with an
assessed value of
more than 2.1 billion rubles. These articles occupy territory of
190,000 square
meters.
"Now
not
one of these buildings is being used by members of this
religious organization
for conducting its activity. There are no representatives of the
organization
there. If they were to be found there under the flag of this
organization, that
would automatically constitute the essence of a criminal
violation, since the
organization was banned in Russia by a court decision," the news
agency's
interlocutor explained.
"The
court
turned over 16 buildings to the state that previously belonged
to the religious
organization in the village of Solnechnoe. All the remaining
property will in
the future also be made the property of state agencies.
Interested state
agencies will fill out the necessary documents in the
established procedure
through Rosimushchestvo and the Russian Ministry of Justice,
which originally
filed a lawsuit for prohibiting the activity of the Jehovah's
Witnesses in
Russia. A decision regarding its future use will be made for
each building,"
the source added.
As
reported
earlier, the religious organization's property on the banks of
the Finnish Gulf
has an assessed value of 800 million rubles and was seized for
government use
by a decision of the Sestroresk district court of St.
Petersburg. As reported
by the United Press Service of the courts of the northern
capital, the market
value of the confiscated property is estimated at two billion
rubles.
The
reason for
the legal proceedings was an illegal transaction of the legal
entity of the
religious organization, the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's
Witnesses
in Russia." As a result of the transaction, the complex of the
property in
the village of Solnechnoe of the Kurort district of St.
Petersburg was
transferred to the disposal of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society of
Pennsylvania, which is registered in New York.
On
20 April
2017, the Supreme Court of Moscow, on the basis of a lawsuit of
the Russian
Ministry of Justice, found the Russian Jehovah's Witnesses to be
an extremist
organization and it prohibited its activity on Russian
territory. "The
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania" is the
principal
legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the world.
(tr. by PDS,
posted 26 December 2017)
Related articles:
Russian
law enforcement descends on Jehovah's Witnesses' property
December 14, 2017
Court
endorses confiscation of Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters
December 7, 2017
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