I was watching CNN and heard this announced. I also found this article at the following link.
JW"S Banned In Moscow Today!
by Ranch 11 Replies latest jw friends
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observador
Hi Ranch.
Thanks for the link to the article.
Observador.
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Special K
See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
< < Back to Start of Article MOSCOW An appellate court in Moscow on Wednesday upheld a ban on the city's Jehovah's Witnesses in a ruling that the group's leaders said reflected mounting pressure on some religious faiths in Russia. . The decision culminated six years of legal proceedings that began when prosecutors sought to shut down the group's activities on the ground that they threatened Russian society. . Under Russia's complex laws governing minority religious groups, the Jehovah's Witnesses are registered on the national level and in nearly 400 other cities in Russia, though not in Moscow itself. The ban upheld on Wednesday affects only the group's activities in Moscow, but its leaders expressed fear that the ruling could presage similar efforts in other cities, where adherents have faced bureaucratic obstacles and other forms of harassment. . "Once you get a decision like this, it's open season," John Burns, the group's Canadian lawyer, said after the ruling. . How exactly the ban will be enforced is not clear, though the prosecutor in the case, Tatyana Kondryatyeva, told the court's three judges that the group's Moscow chapter would be prohibited from renting buildings for religious services and from distributing religious literature. She said such distributions would violate the rights of Russian citizens. . After a four-hour hearing in which the two sides presented their arguments, the judges returned with a ruling after only five minutes, upholding a decision made in March by a lower court. . Several twists had dragged the case out for years. In 2001, a court ruled in favor of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but the prosecutors reinstated the case after an appeal that the group's lawyers said had been supported by leaders of the dominant Russian Orthodox Church. . The second trial lasted nearly three years and included, among other evidence, a lengthy physiological and linguistic study that the Jehovah's Witnesses said had been designed to question the group's beliefs, not its activities. . The group can appeal the decision in Russia, but Burns said it now would turn to the European Court of Human Rights, where the Jehovah's Witnesses have already filed a legal challenge to the city's ban. . The case has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights organizations and from officials and lawmakers in the United States. The U.S. State Department's report on religious freedom, released last December, cited numerous cases of official or unofficial harassment of the Jehovah's Witnesses and other faiths that do not have the status of official religions in Russia, as do Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. . In Washington last month, Steven Pifer, deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, cited the case against the group's Moscow chapter as an example of the Russian authorities' "seeking greater control in the area of religious affairs." He also said that "the Federal Security Service, working with local law enforcement officials, had targeted minority faiths as 'foreign' security threats." . Vasily Kolin, whose family was exiled from Ukraine to Siberia in 1951 because of their faith, said he feared the group's 11,000 believers in Moscow, and perhaps all 133,000 across the country, could again be forced to practice their faith underground. . He expressed dismay that Russia had rehabilitated victims of Soviet religious repression, including Jehovah's Witnesses, in 1992, only to seek new restrictions on some believers now. . "Nothing has changed since the fall of the Soviet Union," he said. . MOSCOW An appellate court in Moscow on Wednesday upheld a ban on the city's Jehovah's Witnesses in a ruling that the group's leaders said reflected mounting pressure on some religious faiths in Russia. . The decision culminated six years of legal proceedings that began when prosecutors sought to shut down the group's activities on the ground that they threatened Russian society. . Under Russia's complex laws governing minority religious groups, the Jehovah's Witnesses are registered on the national level and in nearly 400 other cities in Russia, though not in Moscow itself. The ban upheld on Wednesday affects only the group's activities in Moscow, but its leaders expressed fear that the ruling could presage similar efforts in other cities, where adherents have faced bureaucratic obstacles and other forms of harassment. . "Once you get a decision like this, it's open season," John Burns, the group's Canadian lawyer, said after the ruling. . How exactly the ban will be enforced is not clear, though the prosecutor in the case, Tatyana Kondryatyeva, told the court's three judges that the group's Moscow chapter would be prohibited from renting buildings for religious services and from distributing religious literature. She said such distributions would violate the rights of Russian citizens. . After a four-hour hearing in which the two sides presented their arguments, the judges returned with a ruling after only five minutes, upholding a decision made in March by a lower court. . Several twists had dragged the case out for years. In 2001, a court ruled in favor of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but the prosecutors reinstated the case after an appeal that the group's lawyers said had been supported by leaders of the dominant Russian Orthodox Church. . The second trial lasted nearly three years and included, among other evidence, a lengthy physiological and linguistic study that the Jehovah's Witnesses said had been designed to question the group's beliefs, not its activities. . The group can appeal the decision in Russia, but Burns said it now would turn to the European Court of Human Rights, where the Jehovah's Witnesses have already filed a legal challenge to the city's ban. . The case has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights organizations and from officials and lawmakers in the United States. The U.S. State Department's report on religious freedom, released last December, cited numerous cases of official or unofficial harassment of the Jehovah's Witnesses and other faiths that do not have the status of official religions in Russia, as do Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. . In Washington last month, Steven Pifer, deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, cited the case against the group's Moscow chapter as an example of the Russian authorities' "seeking greater control in the area of religious affairs." He also said that "the Federal Security Service, working with local law enforcement officials, had targeted minority faiths as 'foreign' security threats." . Vasily Kolin, whose family was exiled from Ukraine to Siberia in 1951 because of their faith, said he feared the group's 11,000 believers in Moscow, and perhaps all 133,000 across the country, could again be forced to practice their faith underground. . He expressed dismay that Russia had rehabilitated victims of Soviet religious repression, including Jehovah's Witnesses, in 1992, only to seek new restrictions on some believers now. . "Nothing has changed since the fall of the Soviet Union," he said. . MOSCOW An appellate court in Moscow on Wednesday upheld a ban on the city's Jehovah's Witnesses in a ruling that the group's leaders said reflected mounting pressure on some religious faiths in Russia. . The decision culminated six years of legal proceedings that began when prosecutors sought to shut down the group's activities on the ground that they threatened Russian society. . Under Russia's complex laws governing minority religious groups, the Jehovah's Witnesses are registered on the national level and in nearly 400 other cities in Russia, though not in Moscow itself. The ban upheld on Wednesday affects only the group's activities in Moscow, but its leaders expressed fear that the ruling could presage similar efforts in other cities, where adherents have faced bureaucratic obstacles and other forms of harassment. . "Once you get a decision like this, it's open season," John Burns, the group's Canadian lawyer, said after the ruling. -
simplesally
Thank God.
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BONEZZ
While I am not in favor of countries banning religions, I am very much delighted that Russia has taken steps to ban a family-destroying cult that disguises itself as a harmless religion. I plan on emailing the proper Russian Consulate to express my gratitude for their decision and to give them more ammunition as to why it was a proper verdict.
-BONEZZ
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Flip
"Once you get a decision like this, it's open season,"
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Valis
eh...maybe they can go preach near Chernobyl without getting harassed..
Sincerely,
District Overbeer
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Flip
"Once you get a decision like this, it's open season,"
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JT
actually this is the worst thing that can happen to a jw in terms of getting out- most cult have a strong emphasis of US AND THEM,
OUR ENEMEY is out to get us, according to all studies i have seen for most cult the more persuction the more entrenched the persons become
so while many here may rejoice - keep in mind this ruling DOES NOT AFFECT THE MAJOR PLAYERS cooling out and sipping tea at Patterson
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codeblue
Very interesting post...thanks for sharing!
Wondering what it would take for them to get banned in the USA?