Russia is rounding up Jehovah’s Witnesses—are other groups next?

It was just after sunrise on April 10 when the doorbell  rang at Anatoly and Alyona Vilitkevich’s apartment in Ufa, an industrial city in central Russia. Their early morning visitors: masked police officers armed with...

Criminal charges brought against Jehovah’s Witnesses recruiters in Orenburg region

Charges have been brought against organizers of a Jehovah’s Witnesses chapter in the Orenburg Region in the southern UralsORENBURG, May 22. /TASS/. Charges have been brought against organizers of a Jehovah’s Witnesses chapter in the...

Intensifying Crackdown on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Russia

Ensuring respect for the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief is a pillar of our shared OSCE commitments and the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security. As recently as the Kyiv Ministerial meeting in 2013,...

The Court of Appeal legalized the seizure of property in the village of Solnechnoye in St. Petersburg

The complex of real estate worth about 2 billion rubles will be confiscated from the foreign organization "Watchtower Society, Bibles and Treatises of Pennsylvania". On May 3, 2018, the St. Petersburg City Court upheld the decision of the...

FSB starts detaining Jehovah’s Witnesses on Kola, dozens flee to Finland

Last April, a ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court banned all Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations throughout the country, arguing the religious group to be extremist.On Friday, Murmansk regional authorities’ newspaper Murmanski Vestnik reports about raids made by FSB and...

Trial Of Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Christensen Adjourned In Russia

A preliminary hearing into a criminal case against Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen, a 46-year old Danish citizen charged with extremism, was adjourned shortly after resuming in Russia's central city of Oryol.Judge Aleksei Rudnev adjourned the...

Arson suspected as 2 Jehovah’s Witnesses centers burn in Thurston Co.

Two worship centers operated by the Jehovah's Witnesses were damaged by fire Monday morning, and arson is suspected in both blazes, fire officials said.Olympia firefighters responded to the first blaze, a Kingdom Hall in the...

The detention of a believer in the city of Orel was extended for another 5 months

 Â At least until August 1, 2018, the detention of Dennis Christensen, a Dane who has been detained for about 9 months in the remand prison because of his religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, has been prolonged. The...

Jehovah’s Witness note-taking challenged at EU’s top court

Notes on door-to-door visits made by members of Jehovah's Witnesses breach EU data privacy law, according to the advocate general of the EU's top court. His finding backs the view of Finland's data protection commission.The...

Russian court not to proceed with appeal against Jehovah’s Witness property seizure

The Sestrotretsky District court of St. Petersburg has ruled not to proceed with an appeal against confiscation of property of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization, banned in Russia, valued at 881.5 million rubles (about $15.5 million),...

Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses from across the country are flocking to St Ann’s to build a place of worship on the site of a former pub.

The site of the former Sycamore Inn pub in Hungerhill Road is currently being turned in to a meeting hall for the Christian sect, with work due to finish by the end of February.However almost...

Jehovah’s Witnesses 2017 Grand Totals

Branches of Jehovah’s Witnesses: 90Number of Lands Reporting: 240Total Congregations: 120,053Worldwide Memorial Attendance: 20,175,477Memorial Partakers Worldwide: 18,564Peak of Publishers *: 8,457,107Average Publishers Preaching Each Month: 8,248,982Percentage of Increase Over 2016: 1.4Total Number Baptized *: 284,212Average Pioneer * Publishers Each...

Russian Authorities Seize Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses

On December 14, 2017, Russian authorities broke into the Kolomyazhskiy Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in St. Petersburg, cordoned off the building, and took control of the property. None of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the hall were injured during...

Authorities confiscate all the property of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in St. Petersburg, the largest congress hall will be given to the medical center

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....

Report: A hearing in the Lenoblsud about the prohibition of the translation of the Bible

December 20, 2017Go to the bottom of this pageCollapse14:00The hearings continue in the historic building, an architectural monument of federal significance. In it from 1835 to 1918 there was the Imperial College of Law, graduates of...

RUSSIA: Property sell-offs, alternative service denials follow Jehovah’s Witness ban

Following the Supreme Court ban on all Jehovah's Witness activity – in force since July - Regional Justice Ministry branches are preparing to sell off their confiscated property. Military call-up offices have denied several army...

The European Court will, as a matter of priority, review the decision to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations in Russia

On December 1, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights found the complaint of Jehovah's Witnesses acceptable, decided to consider it as a matter of priority and ordered the Russian Federation to submit its explanations...