Levinson: Jehovah's Witnesses are deliberately pictured as enemies

The religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses has announced 197 cases of violations of their rights in the North-Caucasian and Southern Federal Districts (NCFD and SFD) of Russia after the religious organization was banned in the Rostov Region in 2009. Expert's opinions on the operation principles of the community in Russia remain controversial: some of them still believe that Jehovah's Witnesses fail to observe the Russian legislation. Others are certain that the community is persecuted for ideological and political reasons.

The fact that the community of Jehovah's Witnesses was founded in the USA is one of the major reasons for persecution, believes Lev Levinson, an expert of the Human Rights Institute and rights defender.

"This confession was born in America; therefore it is used to artificially create the image of enemy. The emphasis is placed on its origin – that it is an American denomination. A religious organization becomes a convenient object of discontent," Lev Levinson told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Given that there are some 150-200 thousand Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia; and they are actively practicing, not nominal, believers, they make a competition of faiths. The Russian Patriarchy is pressing the Witnesses, using a variety of superstitions, myths and factual distortions to create a frightening image. It's a battle for religious monopoly," the human rights activist said.

Recently, persecutions of Jehovah's Witnesses grow stronger; however, none of the adherents of this religion breaks any laws, Sergey Krivenko, the coordinator of the public initiative "Citizen and the Army".

"The fact that persecutions are organized by the state is beyond doubt. The Russian FSB (Federal Security Bureau and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) have materials stating that Jehovah's Witnesses need to be put under control," Mr Krivenko told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We can assume that prosecutions are ideological in nature. I have no data on who had initiated them; it's a very shameful phenomenon for our country," said the expert.

According to Sergey Krivenko, he knows many members of the community, who took their alternative military service. "They had no remarks: people work very well, professionally, and receive no complaints," he said but noted that "sometimes guys start promoting their religion in the workplace."

Earlier, Russian human rights defenders promised to lodge an application to the Russian Constitutional Court asking to revise the law on extremism, because they believe that it is often arbitrary interpreted by the authorities, which leads to persecution of believers, including the Jehovah's Witnesses.

However, so far, according to Sergey Krivenko, the provisions of the law on extremism have not been disputed at the Constitutional Court.

"A working group has been set up under the Presidential Council on Development of Civil Society and Human Rights to consider the law on extremism. As yet, the work and consultation with the bodies of power are underway," said Sergey Krivenko.

In his turn, Kamilzhan Kalandarov, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Director General of the Human Rights Institute and Chairman of the Russian Anti-Fascist Movement (RAM), believes that nobody is persecuting and oppressing Jehovah's Witnesses.

"They put themselves outside the framework of the Russian legislation. Certain difficulties are faced by all religious organizations; however, none of them is screaming about it in media or through foreign counterparts," Mr Kalandarov gives his viewpoint.