REGIONAL DEPUTIES ASK FOR BANNING OF
JEHOVAH'S
WITNESSES
by Ivan Snegov
Parlamentskaya
Gazeta, 20 September 2016
The Sakhalin provincial duma supported
the appeal of
the Arkhangelsk provincial assembly of deputies to the
prosecutor general's
office and the Ministry of Justice for the prohibition of the
international
religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.
The Sakhalin deputies supported the
appeal of
colleagues that the "number of Witnesses is growing at
threatening rates
and their missionary activity resembles extremism, if one judges
by news media
and court decisions."
This quotation contradicts another
fact: the deputies
appealed to Yury Chaika and Alexander Konovalov after the
prosecutor's office
of Arkhangelsk province lost to the Jehovah's Witnesses in
provincial court.
The latter refused to liquidate a local cell since the books
found in the
possession of the leader did not have his fingerprints.
"It is necessary not simply to appeal
but to
apply the federal law on universal liquidation," the chairman of
the
provincial assembly's Committee on Youth policy and Athletics,
Ekaterina
Pozdeeva, thinks.
"We are talking about the safety of the
country," says her colleague Alexander Diatlov, "and about the
threat
to sovereignty, since Jehovists do not serve in the army and do
not participate
in elections.
Receiving information from Jehovah's Witnesses is difficult these days—the organization's website is not working. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 September 2016)
DEPUTIES WANT TO BAN JEHOVAH'S
WITNESSES BECAUSE OF
THEIR RAPID GROWTH
jw-ru.blogspot.com,
24 September 2016
The Sakhalin provincial duma supported
an appeal by
their colleagues from the Arkhangelsk provincial assembly for
banning the
religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The
deputies saw the
reason for the ban not in the violation of any law but in the
fact that
"the number of Witnesses is growing at threatening rates."
Amazement is provoked by a whole series
of facts.
It should be recalled that in and of
itself the appeal
of the deputies of Arkhangelsk contradicts not only the
legislation of the
Russian federation but even more the fundamental law, the
constitution of the
RF. Both the legislation and the constitution of the RF
guarantee freedom of
conscience and freedom of religious confession, including the
right to profess
individually or jointly with others any religion or not to
profess any and to
freely choose, hold, and disseminate religious and other
convictions and to act
in accordance with them. It provokes regret that such illegal
calls are
supported by deputies of other provinces and regions. For
example, the Sakhalin
deputies, without examining, supported the appeal of their
Arkhangelsk
colleagues aimed against the Jehovah's Witnesses.
The prosecutor's office of Arkhangelsk
province has
already tried to ban Jehovah's Witnesses in provincial court.
But it lost the case
in court. The provincial court refused to liquidate the local
religious
organization. In and of itself this fact showed once again that
Jehovah's
Witnesses are law-abiding citizens and do not commit any illegal
actions.
The initiator of the prohibition of
Jehovah's
Witnesses, the chairman of the provincial assembly's Committee
for Youth Policy
and Athletics, Ekaterina Pozdeeva, urges the adoption of a
federal law for a
universal prohibition of Jehovah's Witnesses. But in essence
such calls are
unconstitutional since they violate the constitution of the RF.
Another initiator of the ban of
Jehovah's Witnesses,
deputy Alexander Diatlov, tried to convince everyone that
Jehovah' Witnesses
represent "a threat to the safety of the country," because they
do not
participate in elections. But according to information of some
news media, the
statistics of recent elections have shown that almost 50% of the
population of
the RF did not participate in elections. Thus following A.
Diatlov's logic, do
all these people represent "a threat to the safety of the
country"
and should they be considered extremists?
In addition, A. Diatlov maintans that "receiving information from
Jehovah's Witnesses
is difficult these days—the organization's website is not
working."
Actually,
receiving
information about Jehovah's Witnesses and from Jehovah's
Witnesses is very
simple. Visit the official information website of Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia
at www.jw-russia.org.
Jehovah's
Witnesses
still hope for unprejudiced and just treatment on the part of
representatives
of authority. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 September 2016)
Related article:
Prosecutor
disputes decision favoring Arkhangelsk Jehovah's Witnesses
June 3, 2016
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