MoJ states possible criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses

After the liquidation of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses, the believers may get under criminal cases for violating the anti-extremist legislation, the spokeswoman of the Russia’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told the Supreme Court (SC) on April 6.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 5 the SC of Russia began considering the MoJ’s lawsuit demanding to ban the activities of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The respondents treat the ban as political repressions.

"The religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses has signs of extremist activity. We have facts of spreading literature containing allegations of their exclusivity, which threatens the public order," Svetlana Borisova, the MoJ’s spokeswoman, told the court, adding that “to stop the spread of extremist literature, the organization should be liquidated."

She sees a threat to the public order in the refusal of blood transfusions, professed by Jehovah's Witnesses, who favour the bloodless medicine.

Let us note here that on April 5 the court rejected the petition to interrogate 45 Russian citizens, who could tell about the circumstances of the discovery in the liturgical buildings of Jehovah's Witnesses of literature, later recognized as extremist.

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