Jehovah's Witnesses Banned In Moscow!

[Sprout (Zech. 6:12)]

CITY COURT BACKS BAN OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

Thursday, June 17, 2004. Page 3.

City Court Backs Ban of Jehovah's Witnesses
By Maria Danilova
The Associated Press

The Moscow City Court on Wednesday upheld a ban on the Jehovah's Witnesses, culminating a six-year-old case that bodes ill for tens of thousands of adherents across Russia and reflects growing pressure on religious minorities in a country dominated by the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Moscow City Court upheld a district court decision earlier this year that prohibited Jehovah's Witnesses from engaging in religious activity under a provision that allows courts to ban religious groups considered to incite hatred or intolerant behavior.

Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman Christian Presber said the decision will prevent the group from renting premises for worship, holding bank accounts or otherwise supporting their religious activities.

"Religious freedom has just turned back to where it was in Soviet times," the organization's Canadian lawyer, John Burns, said outside the courtroom.

At the hearing, Burns and his colleagues argued that the lower court was biased, taking into account evidence provided almost exclusively by prosecutors. They also said the court based its ruling on the testimony of only seven witnesses who could not speak for the entire Moscow community.

There are about 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow and 133,000 nationwide, according to the group.

Defense lawyers also argued that banning Jehovah's Witnesses was an ideological decision against people who do not celebrate Russia's national holidays, choose not to serve in the Army and are seen as promoting what the court ruling called "alienation from traditional religions."

Presber said the ruling would send a dangerous signal to authorities across Russia and possibly lead to similar trials.

Prosecutors claimed the group was destroying families and endangering followers' health by forbidding medical procedures such as blood transfusions. They also said Jehovah's Witnesses were violating privacy by distributing religious pamphlets on the street and by mail.

Defense lawyer Galina Krylova said that although Wednesday's decision was final, the case was already being considered by the European Court of Human Rights.

In Moscow, the Jehovah's Witnesses have about 100 congregations of about 100 members each and usually gather once or twice a week for worship services involving prayer and discussion of the Bible.

Svetlana Genelova, a 47-year-old who became a Jehovah's Witness seven years ago, said members will continue worshiping despite the ban, gathering at followers' apartments. "Nobody can forbid us to read and live by the Bible," she said.

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