MOSCOW,
March 25 (RAPSI) - The
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) communicated a vast collection of complaints
this month to Russia in connection with the treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses
throughout the country.
Russia
and the applicants were asked earlier this month to consider a plethora of
questions related to treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their congregations
in light of the European Convention on Human Rights’ (Convention) guarantees of
religious freedom and free expression, as well as its prohibition of
discrimination.
According
to court documents, in 2007, a Russian Deputy Prosecutor General notified the
country’s prosecutors’ offices that the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other foreign
religious and charitable organizations may have constituted a public threat.
The
letter stated: “There are various branches of foreign religious and charitable
organizations within the territory of Russia whose activities do not formally
violate the provisions of Russian legislation but quite often promote the
growth of tension in society.”
The
letter grouped Jehovah’s Witnesses with the Unification Church, the Church of
Scientology, “various eastern faiths,” and Satanism, referring to them
collectively as “branches that frequently carry out activities that damage the
moral, mental, and physical health of their members.”
Prosecutors
throughout the country were instructed to look into the threat that extremist
material was being produced or disseminated in violation or Russia’s mass
communications law.
According
to the complaint, the present collection of cases revolves around ten claims,
many centering on Jehovah’s Witness literature:
- The liquidation of a local Jehovah’s Witness organization in Taganrog, Russia, along with the confiscation of its property and a ban on 34 of its publications;
- Seven other instances of the banning of religious publications in various Russian regions;
- The revocation of a permit to distribute religious magazines;
- A series of administrative proceedings launched against nine individuals in eight regions over the distribution of extremist literature;
- Five cases where administrative proceedings were launched over the distribution of unregistered mass media;
- Thirteen cases where administrative proceedings were launched for conducting religious events;
- Three searches carried out in private residences, and the seizure of religious literature;
- Five cases where searches were conducted in places of worship, with the disruption of religious services;
- The seizure of a shipment of religious literature;
- And the detainment of a Jehovah’s Witness for preaching.
The
complaint asserts that the Taganrog local religious organization (LRO) was
liquidated after a court held that it was an extremist organization, due in
part to the fact that one of its founding members succumbed to wounds she
received in a motor vehicle accident, after refusing to accept blood
transfusions.
According
to the website of the international Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization,
adherents do not categorically reject all forms of medical treatment. The
organization does, however, reject certain specific treatments, including blood
transfusions. As explained by the website: “Some treatments conflict with Bible
principles… and we reject these. For example, we don’t accept blood
transfusions because the Bible forbids taking in blood to sustain the body.
(Acts 15:20) Likewise, the Bible prohibits health treatments or procedures that
include occult practices.—Galatians 5:19-21.”
The
claims present a number of issues under Russian domestic law, including its laws
against extremism, the Criminal Code’s provisions against the incitement of
hatred or enmity and against associations that infringe upon the rights of
citizens.
Parties
to the case have been instructed to answer a series of questions pertaining to
the treatment of Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses under international
law.
The ECHR has considered three applications filed against Russia by Jehovah’s
Witnesses in the past, finding in each case that there had been violations of
the Convention.
