To Fight “Extremism,” Russia Bans Jehovah’s Witnesses

Under the guise of battling “extremism,” Russian authorities decided last month to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses religious organization. The decision to prohibit the organization, seize its property, and shut down its operations came in the...

Russian Orthodox against Jehovah’s Witnesses

The Moscow Patriarch distances itself from the government policy but at the same time terms it  "a positive gesture". The ban also concerns Catholics, who fear "new forms of discrimination". The Russian "symphony" between the...

KAZAKHSTAN: Five year jail, three year ban

Jehovah's Witness prisoner of conscience, pensioner and cancer-sufferer Teymur Akhmedov was jailed in Astana on 2 May for five years and banned for a further three years from conducting "ideological/preaching activity". He denied KNB secret...

Angela Merkel – Vladimir Putin and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia

Chancellor Angela Merkel has asked the Russian President Vladimir Putin to work for the protection of human rights in his country. During her visit to Sochi, the chancellor named the rights of homosexuals in Chechnya...

Did Trump Warn Russia Over Jehovah’s Witnesses Ban and Urge Members to Seek Asylum in the U.S.?

CLAIMPresident Trump offered asylum to Russian Jehovah's Witnesses.RATING FALSEORIGINShortly after a Russian court labeled Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist group in April 2017, a series of fake news articles were published claiming that President Trump had offered asylum...

Russian bishops’ official criticizes ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses

The Russian Supreme Court has declared the Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist organization and ordered the confiscation of its property—prompting criticism from the secretary-general of the Catholic bishops’ conference. “Churches like ours don’t recognize the Jehovah’s Witnesses...

Russian Orthodox Church supports ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia

Moscow, May 2, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church sees Jehovah's Witnesses as a dangerous sect and has supported the ban imposed on it in Russia."This is a sect, totalitarian and harmful at that. I am well...

Video: Review of the trial on the Elimination of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia

Six days of hearings took Russian Supreme Court to rule on the claim of the Ministry of Justice of the liquidation and ban the activities of all the 396 registered Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia."When the...

There are devastating costs to restricting religious liberty

America must never become numb to human rights violations, especially the suffering caused by infringing on religious liberty.Citizens can start by protecting America’s first freedom at home and championing it abroad.This week, Russia’s supreme court...

How Russia is increasingly violating minority religious rights while its Orthodox Church increases its power

For the first time, Russia has been officially included among the worst countries in the world for religious freedom because of its ongoing crackdown against religious minorities, foreign missionaries and evangelists and last week's ban...

EU Local Statement on the Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia

The claim filed by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on 15 March before the Supreme Court is the latest crackdown on, and a further escalation of the harassment and judicial persecution suffered...

Why Putin’s persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses should worry us

Hardly anyone noticed last week when the Russian supreme court last week suppressed the Jehovah’s Witnesses there and seized all the group’s property. We were all too busy worrying about fascism in France or war in Korea. But it...

The decision of the Supreme Court provoked a severe act of religious intolerance in St. Petersburg

A few hours after the Russian Supreme Court announced the decision to liquidate the center of Jehovah's Witnesses, late on the evening of April 20, 2017, a group of men drove up to two passenger cars to...

Why Russia’s ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses is so troubling

MOSCOW, Russia – The Jehovah's Witnesses have been banned as an extremist group in a Thursday Supreme Court decision that observers feared signalled a further step back for religious liberty.“For Jehovah's Witnesses, this is going...

Foreign Office urges Russia to uphold human rights after Jehovah’s Witnesses ruling

The Foreign Office has condemned a decision by the Russian Supreme Court to label Jehovah's Witnesses "extremists."Baroness Anelay, the foreign office minister with responsibility for human rights, said the judgement was alarming.She said that the...

Moscow court dismisses lawsuit filed by Jehovah’s Witnesses over suspension of activities

MOSCOW, April 24 (RAPSI) – The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Jehovah's Witnesses against Russian Justice Ministry over suspension of the organization’s activities in Russia, RAPSI reported from the courtroom...

Berlin troubled over Jehovah’s Witnesses’ ban in Russia

On April 20, Russia’s Supreme Court declared Jehovah’s Witnesses to be an extremist organization and outlawed its activity throughout Russia, thereby upholding the Justice Ministry’s requestBERLIN, April 21. /TASS/. Germany’s government has voiced concerns over...