Are JWs really banned in Russia?

[Bek]

Here is a translation of an article that came out yesterday on JW Russia website: 

 

 

Are JW really banned in Russia? No. According to the Russian government’s statement, “the decision of the Russian Supreme Court from 20 April 2017 and the ruling of the Russian Supreme Court’s Appeals Panel from 17 June 2017 do not give an assessment of Jehovah's Witnesses’ beliefs and do not contain a restriction or a ban on the practice of them individually.”

 

Commenting on unjust sentences against Jehovah's Witnesses, Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova said on 10 July 2019: “These events make us think about a conflict between constitutional law on the practice of one’s religion individually or jointly with others, and the extremism specified in Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code.”

 

What did the Russian Supreme Court ban in 2017? The court banned the activities of 396 registered organisations of Jehovah's Witnesses that were operating at that time. This decision has been challenged in the European Court of Human Rights.

 

The Presidential Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights says in a statement dated 20 June 18: “This decision of the [Supreme] Court contains an exhaustive list of legal entities subject to liquidation. At the same time, the court decision does not contain conclusions on the prohibition of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses as such. ”

 

Is it allowed to practise religion in Russia without setting up a legal entity? Yes. Jehovah's Witnesses have been living in Russia for more than 100 years, and most of this time they professed their faith without the organisations that appeared in the late 1990s under the Law on Freedom of Conscience and lasted less than 20 years. The presence or absence of such organisations does not mean a ban on entire religions, and moreover does not give grounds for criminal prosecution of citizens for their beliefs.

 

Is it possible to ban people, ideas, beliefs, thoughts and feelings? This is both impossible and unacceptable. According to Article 28 of the Russian Constitution, everyone has the right to "freely choose, to have and to disseminate religious and other beliefs and to act in accordance with them." This right applies to believers with any views and beliefs, including Jehovah's Witnesses. No court in Russia has ever found the religion or beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses criminal. Such a decision would be discriminatory and unconstitutional.

 

How does the international community regard the connivance at the actions of Russian officials who are persecuting Jehovah's Witnesses? The campaign of persecution of believers was unanimously condemned by the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the European Union, some countries (Germany, USA) and a large number of international organisations.

 

https://jw-russia.org/news/19091011-1131.html

[Stormswift]

To me though, it's a bit like saying Trains aren't banned, but then they take away all the railway tracks. 

[Bek]

The way I see it is different. The train and the tracks are there, because others are using them. It is only the brothers who are thrown off the train for being there as a group. What brothers are doing now is to use this conflict between the constitutional law and the extremism law to defend themselves. They are, in effect, saying that they are getting back on the train as individuals and the authorities do not have any right to throw them off again.

 

Brothers understand that it is very unlikely that the Russian authorities will reverse the ban even if the European court rules in their favour. So what they want to do is at least exercise this constitutional right to worship God as individuals. In my opinion, it is a survival tactic. 

 

But I agree that the whole situation is absurd even by Russian standards. We are used to seeing local governments use laws as weapons against people, but this JW ban is just outrageous.  

 

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Bek

[sunshine]

It's double speak to placate the international community. 

 

The Russian authorities could put a end to the persecution  tomorrow but the ban on the organization's  legal entities is a stick to beat the individual brothers with and they know it.  All anyone has to do is charge a brother or sister praying in his bedroom with being a representative of a branch and throw them in jail.  They know we will not give up our bibles and bible literature and that it is that in part that maintains our strength and unity, so by saying no Witness may posses any literature produced  by the Society without being charged with representing and promoting it, they know they are setting us up on a collision course.

 

The comments indicate that witnesses can freely meet together for bible study, prayer aand worship but we know from multiple arrests that is not true.   The part that sent chills down my spin is this 

 

 

Quote

Is it allowed to practise religion in Russia without setting up a legal entity? Yes. Jehovah's Witnesses have been living in Russia for more than 100 years, and most of this time they professed their faith without the organisations that appeared in the late 1990s under the Law on Freedom of Conscience and lasted less than 20 years. The presence or absence of such organisations does not mean a ban on entire religions, and moreover does not give grounds for criminal prosecution of citizens for their beliefs.

Under what conditions were  Jehovah's Witnesses forced to survive during those periods?  Were they freely meeting together and preaching openly?  No!  It's only by Jehovah's power they were not crushed out of existence during those "golden years" under Stalin and Communism.  Is this a message that we had better get used to meeting in forrests and being shipped to concentration camps?  Because that only ended in the 1990s with full legal recognition of the Society.  In any case, the basic premise is true, we survived then and we will survive now and this present stint of persecution under the guise of "freedom" will not last 100 years!

Edited September 12, 2019 by sunshine

[Bek]

Sister Rosie, the Russian human rights council and the ombudsman have been supportive of JWs from the very start. But you might be right about the double speak. Whatever it is, the international community sees what's what. 

 

Our brothers are using the statements from the Russian presidential human rights council and the human rights ombudsman to say that the protection of JW beliefs is guaranteed by the Russian constitution. So that means that individual JWs should not be prosecuted for worshiping God. In other words, JWs and the banned legal entities are not the same thing. But the Russian authorities do not want to see that difference and continue their unconstitutional persecution of anyone who identifies with JWs. 

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Bek

[Stormswift]

3 hours ago, Bek said:

The way I see it is different. The train and the tracks are there, because others are using them. It is only the brothers who are thrown off the train for being there as a group. What brothers are doing now is to use this conflict between the constitutional law and the extremism law to defend themselves. They are, in effect, saying that they are getting back on the train as individuals and the authorities do not have any right to throw them off again.

 

Brothers understand that it is very unlikely that the Russian authorities will reverse the ban even if the European court rules in their favour. So what they want to do is at least exercise this constitutional right to worship God as individuals. In my opinion, it is a survival tactic. 

 

But I agree that the whole situation is absurd even by Russian standards. We are used to seeing local governments use laws as weapons against people, but this JW ban is just outrageous.  

 

 

Yes, so perhaps changing the tracks so our train can't travel them. 

[carlos]

2 hours ago, sunshine said:

It's double speak to placate the international community. 

Rosie, I think there may be a misunderstanding here. Those words in the article above are not the Russian government's words. They are from JW Russia, an official site our organization uses to keep us informed about the situation in Russia. Our brothers wrote that. 

 

What they are saying is that the persecution of JWs in Russia goes against the very Russian laws. If our religion is not banned, why are individuals being arrested for practising it? Those arrests are illegal.

[sunshine]

2 hours ago, carlos said:

Rosie, I think there may be a misunderstanding here. Those words in the article above are not the Russian government's words. They are from JW Russia, an official site our organization uses to keep us informed about the situation in Russia. Our brothers wrote that. 

 

What they are saying is that the persecution of JWs in Russia goes against the very Russian laws. If our religion is not banned, why are individuals being arrested for practising it? Those arrests are illegal.

 

 

Oh thank you brother Carlos. I thought it was the authorities claiming there was no persecution! Thank you for the correction it is much appreciated.

 

 

R

[Omoyeme]

On 9/12/2019 at 1:36 AM, Bek said:

[...]the Ombudsman have been supportive of JWs from the very start.

Brother Nurzat, please take a look at this post from the Russia court case thread

to see the official decision of the Ombudsman. And then read in this post

where she finally admitted the truth of the matter.  Her words are quoted from jw-russia.org.

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Omoyeme

[Bek]

1 hour ago, Omoyeme said:

Brother Nurzat, please take a look at this post from the Russia court case thread

to see the official decision of the Ombudsman. And then read in this post

where she finally admitted the truth of the matter.  Her words are quoted from jw-russia.org.

 

Thank you, Sister Sandra! Not from the start then. I wonder why she changed her opinion, and started speaking in support of brothers.