"IN
RUSSIA
ONE MAY BE ARRESTED EVEN FOR A WAKE."
Religion
scholar
describes how Belgorod Jehovah's Witnesses are threatened for
prayer in an
apartment
by
Tatiana
Grigoreva
In
early
February police personnel arrested 16 Belgorodians at the door
of an apartment
where supposedly a meeting was held of members of the Jehovah's
Witnesses
organization that is forbidden in Russia. Searches were
conducted at the homes
of all detainees at their registered address, during which
Bibles, electronic
equipment, data storage devices, travel passports, money, and
photographs were
seized.
In
response to
an inquiry by MBKh Media, the Belgorod regional Directorate of
the Ministry of
Internal Affairs reported that on 5 February 2018 a criminal
case was opened on
the charge of participation by several residents of Belgorod and
Belgorod oblast
in the activity of a forbidden religious association, and in the
context of the
case operational search activities were conducted and persons
who were
participants in commission of a crime were identified.
Roman
Lunkin, a
religious studies scholar and senior researcher and director of
the Center for
the Study of Problems of Religion and Society of the Institute
of Europe of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, described for MBKh Media what may
threaten
believers after the organization was ruled to be extremist:
"Despite
the
fact that the constitution of the Russian federation permits
citizens to
gather together as a religious group and to pray even when a
religious
organization has been liquidated, in reality everything is
otherwise.
Situations with arrests and criminal cases are continuing,
because law
enforcement personnel do not distinguish the concepts of
"religious
organizations," "religious associations," and "religious
groups." If someone says to them that Jehovah's Witnesses are
meeting,
then for them this is a meeting of a forbidden organization, and
participants
in the meeting are guilty a priori. Regardless of the fact that
members of a
religious group are meeting and not of an official organization.
It is still
necessary to prove whether this is a continuation of the
activity of that
organization that was liquidated by a decision of the Supreme
Court. Reading
the Bible on the basis of the Jehovah's Witnesses' translation
is not a crime.
And this unofficial group can be independent from that
association that existed
previously. The presumption of innocence should operate, and the
police should
prove that the assembled citizens are participating in the
activity of the
banned organization.
The
expert said
that this can be done only in the event that literature that has
been ruled to
be extremist is being used, within the context of the activity
of the
liquidated organization, or the composition of the members of
the religious
group coincides with the composition of the founders of the
banned organization.
"But
if
citizens come to a meeting, who are in no way formally
associated with the
liquidated organization and have not been officially recognized
as members of
the organization, then what right do the police have to maintain
that this is a
continuation of the activity of that organization? And as far as
I know, the
Jehovah's Witnesses' literature that has been ruled to be
extremist has not
been used in meetings for a long time and it is not likely to be
found in a
search," the religious studies scholar thinks.
Roman
Lunkin
suggested that in the near future in various Russian cities,
criminal cases
will be conducted one after the other for creation and
participation in the
activity of a forbidden religious organization and citizens will
receive real
jail time. The religion expert emphasized that there are many
loopholes that
police can use. They can arrest believers not only during the
conduct of
meetings but also during funerals and wakes, if rituals in them
are conducted
in accordance with the religious traditions adopted by Jehovah's
Witnesses or
of another religious organization that is operating without
official
registration.
"Members
of
a religious organization (not a forbidden one—ed. note) have the
right to
conduct without any restriction ceremonies in a cemetery and in
a crematorium,
and to bring their equipment and liturgical objects, but a
religious group may
be fined for conducting an unsanctioned public action. Law
enforcement agents
may also declare that this is missionary activity without
registration. It
should not be the police's business who is praying in a cemetery
and how, if a
citizen is not violating public order. But because of the
general character of
accusatory policy with respect to believers in the country, such
situations may
arise. Thus far the majority of arrests have been connected with
meetings of
religious groups in a home. According to my information,
Baptists from
unregistered groups have suffered especially. They are now
threatened in a
number of regions with confiscation of private homes where
meetings have been
conducted."
On 20 April 2017, the Russian Supreme Court ruled the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" to be an extremist organization. Earlier, in 2016, individual religious organizations in Belgorod and Stary Oskol were liquidated. They also were ruled to be extremist organizations. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 February 2018)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.