09:52, 25 July 2017

Sociologists report Russian citizens' attitude to ban of Jehovah's Witnesses

Literature of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Photo: RFE/RL

More than three-quarters of Russian citizens who heard about the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses support the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) to ban them. This was found out by experts from the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion (known as VTsIOM) and the "Levada Centre".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 20, the Supreme Court of Russia granted the claim filed by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to liquidate 396 religious organizations of the Jehovah's Witnesses, including their Management Centre in Saint Petersburg. After that, Jehovah's Witnesses in the Southern Federal District (SFD) and the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) declared increased pressure.

Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses community themselves have insisted that they were never engaged in extremism. They appealed against the SC's decision, but on July 17, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the organizations as extremist. Their activities in the Russian Federation are prohibited.

Respondents who heard about the Jehovah's Witnesses voiced negative (53%) or indifferent (44%) attitude towards them, the RIA "Novosti" reports with reference to the VTsIOM.

According to the survey, 76% of respondents support the recognition of the Jehovah's Witnesses organizations as extremist. 5% do not agree with the decision, and 16% declared their indifference to the situation.

On June 23-26, a similar survey was conducted by the "Levada Centre" involving 1600 people in 137 towns and villages of Russia. 20% of respondents said they had heard nothing about the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Out of the number of the people who heard about the ban, 79% approved it, 12% did not support it, and 9% found that difficult to answer, the "Interfax" reports.

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