20:27, 20 April 2017

Jehovah's Witnesses treat SC’s verdict as biased

People gathered near the Supreme Court of Russia. Moscow, April 20, 2017. Photo by Rustam Djalilov for "Caucasian Knot"

The Supreme Court (SC) of Russia has made a mistake by approving the liquidation of the Administrative Centre and local organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. This decision will be appealed against, the representative of the Centre and advocates have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today the SC has upheld the position of the Russia’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which demanded to liquidate all the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The MoJ referred to the judgements concerning local religious communities of Jehovah's Witnesses, where extremist literature was found. Representatives of the respondent kept stating that the prohibited materials were planted into liturgical buildings of Jehovah's Witnesses; and that law enforcement bodies were involved in that.

The SC was biased and failed to pay the due attention to the case, said Yaroslav Sivulsky, the deputy head of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Sergey Cherepanov, a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses, said that the SC's verdict would be appealed against, including at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the “Interfax” reports.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Rustam Djalilov

Source: CK correspondent