{"id":2838,"date":"2017-03-30T11:58:24","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T11:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/news\/2017\/03\/30\/helsinki-commission-condemns-pending-legal-action-against-jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia\/"},"modified":"2021-08-18T10:25:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T07:25:30","slug":"helsinki-commission-condemns-pending-legal-action-against-jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/helsinki-commission-condemns-pending-legal-action-against-jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Helsinki Commission Condemns Pending Legal Action against Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">WASHINGTON\u00e2\u20ac\u201dFollowing the Russian government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request for its Supreme Court to effectively ban Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses in Russia from worshipping, claiming that they are members of an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extremist organization,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (MS), Co-Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), and Commissioner Rep. Richard Hudson (NC-08), issued the following statements:<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is wrong to apply flawed counterterrorism laws to those who seek to practice their faith,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Chairman Wicker. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Russian government is exploiting genuine threats of violent extremism to undermine what little religious freedom remains in that country. This distracts from real efforts to fight terrorism. I urge the Russian government to drop the case immediately.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At stake in the upcoming court case is the legality and perhaps the survival of the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand in fact basic religious freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthroughout the Russian Federation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Co-Chairman Smith. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the Supreme Court of Russia declares this faith group an extremist organization, it is an ominous sign for all believers and it marks a dark, sad day for all Russians.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As a staunch supporter of religious liberty, I am appalled by the Russian government treating an entire religious group as a threat to national security,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Commissioner Hudson. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Religious affiliation should never be a justification for persecution.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">On March 15, the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a formal court claim to label the Administrative Center of Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses in Russia an extremist group and liquidate their national headquarters and 395 local chapters, known as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153local religious organizations.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Should the Russian Supreme Court decide against the Administrative Center, 175,000 Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses in Russia could face criminal prosecution for practicing their faith.\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">According to the Helsinki Final Act signed by all 57 participating states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00c2\u00a0including Russia \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153participating States will recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">https:\/\/www.csce.gov\/international-impact\/press-and-media\/press-releases\/helsinki-commission-condemns-pending-legal\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c2\u00a0 WASHINGTON\u00e2\u20ac\u201dFollowing the Russian government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request for its Supreme Court to effectively ban Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses in Russia from worshipping, claiming that they are members of an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extremist organization,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (MS),&hellip;<\/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-2838","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\/2838","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=2838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5669,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838\/revisions\/5669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}