Russia Bans Jehovah’s Witnesses, Calling It an Extremist Group
By ANDREW HIGGINSAPRIL 20, 2017
MOSCOW — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination that rejects violence, an extremist organization, banning the group from operating on Russian territory and putting its more than 170,000 Russian worshipers in the same category as Islamic State militants.
The ruling, which confirmed an order last month by the Justice Ministry that the denomination be “liquidated†— essentially eliminated or disbanded, had been widely expected. Russian courts rarely challenge government decisions no matter what the evidence.
Viktor Zhenkov, a lawyer for the Christian group, said Jehovah’s Witnesses will appeal the ruling, which he said had focused on the activities of the organization’s so-called administrative center, a complex of offices outside St. Petersburg, but also branded all of its nearly 400 regional branches as extremist.
“We consider this decision an act of political repression that is impermissible in contemporary Russia,†Mr. Zhenkov said in a telephone interview. “We will, of course, appeal.†An initial appeal will be made to the Supreme Court’s appellate division, said Mr. Zhenkov, and if that fails, Jehovah’s Witnesses will take its case to the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, France.
By ANDREW HIGGINSAPRIL 20, 2017
MOSCOW — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination that rejects violence, an extremist organization, banning the group from operating on Russian territory and putting its more than 170,000 Russian worshipers in the same category as Islamic State militants.
The ruling, which confirmed an order last month by the Justice Ministry that the denomination be “liquidated†— essentially eliminated or disbanded, had been widely expected. Russian courts rarely challenge government decisions no matter what the evidence.
Viktor Zhenkov, a lawyer for the Christian group, said Jehovah’s Witnesses will appeal the ruling, which he said had focused on the activities of the organization’s so-called administrative center, a complex of offices outside St. Petersburg, but also branded all of its nearly 400 regional branches as extremist.
“We consider this decision an act of political repression that is impermissible in contemporary Russia,†Mr. Zhenkov said in a telephone interview. “We will, of course, appeal.†An initial appeal will be made to the Supreme Court’s appellate division, said Mr. Zhenkov, and if that fails, Jehovah’s Witnesses will take its case to the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, France.