{"id":2146,"date":"2014-03-25T16:09:54","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T16:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/news\/2014\/03\/25\/echr-looks-into-russias-treatment-of-jehovahs-witnesses\/"},"modified":"2022-12-19T21:31:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T18:31:32","slug":"echr-looks-into-russias-treatment-of-jehovahs-witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/echr-looks-into-russias-treatment-of-jehovahs-witnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"ECHR looks into Russia\u2019s treatment of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW, March 25 (RAPSI) –<\/strong>\u00a0The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) communicated a vast collection of complaints this month to Russia in connection with the treatment of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses throughout the country.<\/p>\n

Russia and the applicants were asked earlier this month to consider a plethora of questions related to treatment of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and their congregations in light of the European Convention on Human Rights\u2019 (Convention) guarantees of religious freedom and free expression, as well as its prohibition of discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to court documents, in 2007, a Russian Deputy Prosecutor General notified the country\u2019s prosecutors\u2019 offices that the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and other foreign religious and charitable organizations may have constituted a public threat.<\/p>\n

The letter stated: \u201cThere are various branches of foreign religious and charitable organizations within the territory of Russia whose activities do not formally violate the provisions of Russian legislation but quite often promote the growth of tension in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter grouped Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses with the Unification Church, the Church of Scientology, \u201cvarious eastern faiths,\u201d and Satanism, referring to them collectively as \u201cbranches that frequently carry out activities that damage the moral, mental, and physical health of their members.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors throughout the country were instructed to look into the threat that extremist material was being produced or disseminated in violation or Russia\u2019s mass communications law.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the present collection of cases revolves around ten claims, many centering on Jehovah\u2019s Witness literature:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The liquidation of a local Jehovah\u2019s Witness organization in Taganrog, Russia, along with the confiscation of its property and a ban on 34 of its publications;\u00a0<\/div>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seven other instances of the banning of religious publications in various Russian regions;<\/div>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The revocation of a permit to distribute religious magazines;\u00a0<\/div>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A series of administrative proceedings launched against nine individuals in eight regions over the distribution of extremist literature;\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Five cases where administrative proceedings were launched over the distribution of unregistered mass media;<\/div>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thirteen cases where administrative proceedings were launched for conducting religious events;\u00a0<\/div>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Three searches carried out in private residences, and the seizure of religious literature;\u00a0<\/div>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Five cases where searches were conducted in places of worship, with the disruption of religious services;\u00a0<\/div>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The seizure of a shipment of religious literature;\u00a0<\/div>\n
10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the detainment of a Jehovah\u2019s Witness for preaching.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The complaint asserts that the Taganrog local religious organization (LRO) was liquidated after a court held that it was an extremist organization, due in part to the fact that one of its founding members succumbed to wounds she received in a motor vehicle accident, after refusing to accept blood transfusions.<\/p>\n

According to the website of the international Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses religious organization, adherents do not categorically reject all forms of medical treatment. The organization does, however, reject certain specific treatments, including blood transfusions. As explained by the website: \u201cSome treatments conflict with Bible principles\u2026 and we reject these. For example, we don\u2019t accept blood transfusions because the Bible forbids taking in blood to sustain the body. (Acts 15:20) Likewise, the Bible prohibits health treatments or procedures that include occult practices.\u2014Galatians 5:19-21.\u201d<\/p>\n

The claims present a number of issues under Russian domestic law, including its laws against extremism, the Criminal Code\u2019s provisions against the incitement of hatred or enmity and against associations that infringe upon the rights of citizens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Parties to the case have been instructed to answer a series of questions pertaining to the treatment of Russia\u2019s Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses under international law.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
The ECHR has considered three applications filed against Russia by Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in the past, finding in each case that there had been violations of the Convention.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW, March 25 (RAPSI) –\u00a0The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) communicated a vast collection of complaints this month to Russia in connection with the treatment of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses throughout the country. Russia and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,57,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-news","category-medical","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5697,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146\/revisions\/5697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}