IN
ULIANOVSK, 6
MEMBERS OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES TO APPEAR IN COURT
The
Zasviazh district
court of Ulianovsk will consider a criminal case against six
members of the
religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is illegal
in Russia, the
press service of the Russian prosecutor general's office
reports.
"Depending
upon
the role and degree of involvement, they are accused of
committing the crimes
under parts 1 and 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the
RF (arranging
and participating in the activity of a religious association for
which a court
has made a decision that has taken legal effect for liquidation
because of
conducting extremist activity, with the exception of
organizations that have
been ruled terrorist in accordance with laws of the Russian
Federation),"
the office explained.
According
to the
account of the investigation, a resident of Ulianovsk arranged
the convening
and conducting of meetings that involved preaching activity.
During his
addresses he quoted texts of religious literature that have been
included in
the Federal List of Extremist Materials. In addition, the man
organized the
collection of money in the form of donations and he made
decisions regarding
how they were disbursed for the needs of the association. The
other subjects of
the case participated in meetings of the extremist organization
and engaged in
distribution of the religious teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses.
By a
decision of the
Russian Supreme Court of 20 April 2017, which has taken legal
effect, the
activity of Jehovah's Witnesses and its member local divisions
in Russia was
terminated. (tr. by PDS, posted 15 April 2020)
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/.