RUSSIA: Justice Ministry seeks complete Jehovah’s Witness ban

With no public announcement, Russia's Justice Ministry lodged a suit at the Supreme Court today (15 March) to declare the Jehovah's Witness Administrative Centre "extremist", to liquidate it, and to ban its activity. If successful,...

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia Brace for a Final Blow

After more than a decade of legal wrangling, controversial anti-terrorism laws are set to deliver the final blow to Russia’s embattled Jehovah’s Witnesses.For years, Russia has chased the group in a tireless game of cat...

KAZAKHSTAN: Article 174 cases increase, Cancer sufferer tortured

Jehovah's Witness Asaf Guliyev was given five years' restricted freedom on 24 February. Fellow Jehovah's Witness Teymur Akhmedov, a cancer sufferer, is in pre-trial detention and states he was tortured. Guliyev's conviction is one of...

Jehovah’s Witnesses ask Kremlin for relief from pressure

MOSCOW (AP) -- The leader of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is calling on the head of the Kremlin's human rights council to prevent what the denomination fears is an imminent total ban on the...

RUSSIA: Jehovah’s Witnesses to be liquidated?

Russia appears to be moving to close the Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters as "extremist". If this happens, all 406 registered local organisations and over 2,500 religious groups would be highly likely also to be liquidated, ending...

RUSSIA: Warnings and forced community liquidations increase

Russia's forced dissolution of local communities, literature bans, and "extremism" prosecutions increasingly restrict Jehovah's Witnesses' freedom of religion and belief. On 16 January, their national Administrative Centre in St Petersburg lost its latest legal challenge...

UZBEKISTAN: Religious literature fines and confiscations continue

A car has been confiscated from a Protestant because he did not pay illegal fines for giving religious books away. The books were approved by the Religious Affairs Committee, which apparently changed its mind so...

KAZAKHSTAN: Sharing beliefs “grave crime” requiring detention?

Kazakhstan's KNB secret police has arrested two Jehovah's Witnesses for discussing their faith with KNB informers. Teymur Akhmedov and Asaf Guliyev are in two months' pre-trial detention, although Akhmedov needs hospitalisation for cancer treatment. The...

Deadly Avalanche in Central Italy

On Wednesday, January 18, 2017, a catastrophic avalanche in the Abruzzo region of central Italy, the same area of Italy devastated by a major quake last August, buried a resort hotel with up to 30 persons...

Russia gets go ahead to liquidate Jehovah’s Witnesses Organisation

MOSCOW, Russia – The Appeal Court in Moscow, Russia has granted Russian Prosecutor the leave to liquidate activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses(JW) in Russia after branding them extremist group.The JW had appealed the decision and tried...