St. Petersburg. 25 December. Interfax – The administration of the North-West Federal Medical Research Center named after VAAlmazov (FGBU NMIC) intends to re-equip the former large site for worship services of Jehovah’s Witnesses in St. Petersburg for educational purposes, Interfax was told in the structure of the center on Monday.

“There is a pilot project according to which in accordance with the presidential decree on the basis of the building on Kolomyazhsky Prospekt, 21 it is planned to organize a scientific and educational platform,” the source said.

According to him, the specificity of the building does not imply use for medical purposes, but it is suitable for conducting lectures.

According to the website of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in Russia, the opening of the center for the holding of religious meetings of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” on Kolomyazhsky Avenue took place in September 1999. The building, designed by the Finnish architect Helenios Osmo Ilmari, was used as a meeting center.

 

 

As reported in the publication of the community on July 15, 2015, a cult hall with an area of ​​more than 1.4 thousand square meters in the days of congresses could hold 1,6 thousand people. According to the site, the center has the largest toilet in the city, equipped, including for people with disabilities. Also, the ramps for disabled people have an entrance to the building, and elevators operate in the very center.

As an informed source told Interfax, the Russian representative office of Jehovah’s Witnesses had 55 real estate properties in St. Petersburg, the total cadastral value of which exceeds 2.1 billion rubles. These facilities occupy a territory of 190 thousand square meters.

“Now none of these objects is used by members of this religious organization to conduct its activities.If they are registered there under the flag of this organization, it automatically creates a criminal offense, because the organization is banned in Russia by a court decision,” – the interlocutor of the agency explained.

“The court turned 16 objects previously belonging to the religious organization in the village of Solnechnoye in the village of Solnechnoye.The interested authorities will in the future order to draw up the necessary documents through the Federal Property Management Agency and the Ministry of Justice of Russia, which originally filed a lawsuit on the prohibition of the activities of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in Russia, for each object a decision will be made about its further use, “the source added.

As reported, the property of the Witnesses on the shore of the Gulf of Finland cadastral value of 800 million rubles was seized in favor of the state by decision of the Sestroretsk District Court of St. Petersburg.

The cause of the trial was an illegal transaction of a legal entity of a religious organization – “The Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia”. As a result of the transaction, the property complex in the village of Solnechnoye in the Kurortny District of St. Petersburg was placed at the disposal of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (“The Watchtower Society, Bible and Treatises of Pennsylvania”), registered in New York.

The Supreme Court of Moscow on April 20, 2017, on the suit of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, recognized Russian “Jehovah’s Witnesses” as an extremist organization and banned its activities on the territory of Russia. “The Pennsylvania Watchtower, Bible and Treaties Society” is the main legal entity used by Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world.