{"id":2881,"date":"2017-04-25T14:09:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T14:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/news\/2017\/04\/25\/why-russias-ban-on-jehovahs-witnesses-is-so-troubling\/"},"modified":"2021-08-18T10:25:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T07:25:29","slug":"why-russias-ban-on-jehovahs-witnesses-is-so-troubling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/why-russias-ban-on-jehovahs-witnesses-is-so-troubling\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Russia’s ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses is so troubling"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW, Russia \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For Jehovah’s Witnesses, this is going to be a frightening time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lorcan Price, ADF International legal counsel in Strasbourg, told\u00c2\u00a0CNA<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0April 21.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It effectively means that holding their beliefs and manifesting them is tantamount to a criminal act in Russia. They risk new levels of persecution by the Russian authorities.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Price saw the move as continuing the reversal of positive trends in post-Soviet Russia.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What we’re seeing really is the slide back into the type of attitude that characterized the worst of oppression in the 20th century by the Soviet regime in Russia,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obviously very sad and disheartening to see that happening again.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Russia’s Justice Ministry in March ordered that the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination be liquidated and disbanded. Judges ordered the closure of the denomination\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Russian headquarters and almost 400 local chapters. The denomination\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s property would also be seized.<\/p>\n

The denomination’s lawyer, Viktor Zhenkov, said the group would appeal the court ruling upholding the order.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We consider this decision an act of political repression that is impermissible in contemporary Russia,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhenkov told the\u00c2\u00a0New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Russia has duties under the European Court of Human Rights to protect freedom of worship and belief.<\/p>\n

The Russian Orthodox Church is predominant in Russia, and some of its members have pushed to outlaw or curb the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses. Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s federal security service, the FSB, also holds the denomination under deep suspicion.<\/p>\n

Svetlana Borisova, who represented the Justice Ministry in the Supreme Court, charged that the denomination\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s members had shown \u00e2\u20ac\u0153signs of extremist activity that represent a threat to the rights of citizens, social order and the security of society.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Price said the ruling was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153very disappointing and shocking,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but not surprising given negative trends.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Last year in particular the government adopted some very draconian and far-reaching legislation that has severely disrupted the right of worship and freedom of belief in Russia,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Anti-terrorism measures have given Russian police powers to disrupt private worship services, to arrest and detain individuals handing out unapproved religious materials, and to outlay any publish preaching without prior approval from Russian authorities.<\/p>\n

The Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses suffered intense persecution under the Soviet era until the fall of communism in 1991. A 2002 anti-extremism law and a broader definition of extremism in 2006 once again put legal pressure on the denomination<\/p>\n

Price said an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights could produce a positive response, but Russia has \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a long history of ignoring decisions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from that court, which relies on diplomatic pressure to enforce its decisions.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For Christians and minority faiths in Russia this is a frightening time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Obviously we hope that people will pray for them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What we hope is ultimately the Russian government will take notice of international condemnation and reverse these policies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

(Story from the\u00c2\u00a0Catholic News Agency<\/a>)<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW, Russia \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For Jehovah’s Witnesses, this is…<\/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-2881","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\/2881","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=2881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5642,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions\/5642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}