{"id":2831,"date":"2017-03-09T21:13:56","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T21:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/news\/2017\/03\/09\/jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia-brace-for-a-final-blow\/"},"modified":"2021-08-18T10:25:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T07:25:30","slug":"jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia-brace-for-a-final-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia-brace-for-a-final-blow\/","title":{"rendered":"Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia Brace for a Final Blow"},"content":{"rendered":"

After more than a decade of legal wrangling, controversial anti-terrorism laws are set to deliver the final blow to Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s embattled Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

For years, Russia has chased the group in a tireless game of cat and mouse. Authorities hold shipments of Bibles at the border. Police raids are timed to break up Sunday services. Meeting houses across the country are shuttered.<\/span><\/p>\n

But now the group’s religious leaders say their situation is critical. Prosecutors, who call the group an extremist sect, responsible for tearing apart families and indoctrinating young people, are now set to ban the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses from the country for good.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We consider this a serious threat,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Robert Warren, a spokesperson for Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses International. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This decision could influence not just Russia, but the whole former Soviet Union,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 175,000 Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses, who fear physical attacks inspired by the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign, say they just want to spread the word of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We feel this move by the government will actually spark real extremist activity against our believers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Warren told The Moscow Times.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Tightening Noose<\/span><\/h3>\n

The looming closure is the result of a long and agonising legal process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regional branches of the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses have long been viewed with suspicion by officials. The group was banned outright in the Russian city of Taganrog in 2014. Other bans quickly followed in Samara and Abinsk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, in early 2016, the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 central headquarters near St. Petersburg was issued an official warning to halt their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extremist activity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The warning arrived at the same time as the organization was banned in five more Russian regions: Belgorod, Birobidzhan, Elista, Oryol and Stary Oskol.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final appeal against the warning was rejected in January 2017. Now, \u00c2\u00a0authorities can now use any violation of the anti-terror law, \u00e2\u20ac\u201d including the distribution of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcextremist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 materials \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to justify shuttering the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witness headquarters and the organization across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

A number of alleged infringements of the law were since discovered during \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unscheduled inspection\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s headquarters last month. As part of the raid, the organization was forced to hand over 73,000 pages of documents. They were also asked to hand over a list of its 2,277 ministers leading Russian congregations, a demand which they refused.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNecessary Evil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/span><\/h3>\n

While authorities have the power to shut down the church, they might not follow through, says Roman Lunkin, head of the center for the study of Religion and Society at the Russian Academy of Sciences\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 European Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Unlike the Soviet era, Russian authorities are not trying to destroy religion in general,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They will tolerate many \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsuspicious\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 sects or religions as a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnecessary evil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 including the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostal churches and some Muslim communities.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather, control is key for the intelligence agencies, Lunkin says. This control could come from the impending threat of closure or by liquidating the church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s central control center and monitoring regional groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153By destroying the Jehovah’s Witnesses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 centralized management, officials will be able to better control these communities and monitor the groups scattered across the country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcExtremist Bibles’<\/span><\/h3>\n

What is more concerning for some analysts is how Russian authorities are using anti-extremism laws \u00e2\u20ac\u201d designed to combat terrorists \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to gain control over society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexander Verkhovsky, Director of Moscow’s SOVA Center, which monitors abuses of anti-extremism legislation, says authorities have followed anti-extremism legislation to the letter in their bid shutter the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The problem is that those laws are badly formulated,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very difficult for these organizations to exist without violating one law or another.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

Law enforcement agencies have focused on the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extremist\u00e2\u20ac\u009d literature which Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses distribute on streets or by going door to door.<\/span><\/p>\n

Government-appointed experts \u00e2\u20ac\u201d generally working in three-person panels usually comprised of a psychologist, linguist and theologist \u00e2\u20ac\u201d have so far banned more than 80 Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses publications. In most cases, the bans are for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153portraying other religions in a negative light,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or for trying to persuade Russian men to avoid compulsory military service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not everyone agrees with these experts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 testimony.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lunkin and Verkhovsky fear that anti-extremism laws are often used unfairly by overzealous prosecutors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is a general tendency to [use these laws] in order to increase the police\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s influence on the public sphere,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lunkin says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This affects religion too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

With sweeping new anti-terror legislation introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin just last year, the problem is only set to worsen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The legislation we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen come into play between 2015 and 2016 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c laws which see religious groups being forced to register themselves and the monitoring of missionary work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has been the most destructive and repressive we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen for many years,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Lunkin.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses may be among the first organizations to feel the sting of that new legislation. But they say that they will continue to worship regardless.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My parents were exiled to Siberia because they were Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a spokesperson for the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses in Russia. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They worshipped even while they were in those camps. We will continue too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/themoscowtimes.com\/articles\/jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia-brace-for-a-final-blow-57343\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After more than a decade of legal wrangling, controversial anti-terrorism laws are set to deliver the final blow to Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s embattled Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses. For years, Russia has chased the group in a tireless game of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-news","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831","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=2831"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5675,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831\/revisions\/5675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}