EUROPEAN COURT GRANTS R.F. 3-MONTH DELAY FOR PREPARING RESPONSE TO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES' APPEAL
Credo.Press, 26 September 2018
The deputy minister of justice of the R.F., Mikhail Galperin, requested on 17 September that the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) grant Russia an additional three-month delay for preparing comments to the demands for compensation in the appeals No. 10188/17 "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and Kalin vs Russian Federation" and No. 3215/18 "Local religious organization of Glazov and others vs Russian Federation." The court granted a delay until 7 December 2018, the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses reports.
The total sum of demands for compensation on the aforesaid appeals exceeds six billion rubles (79,215,679 euros). The appeals were filed in connection with the decisions of the Russian Supreme Court of April and July of last year regarding liquidation and prohibition of the activity of all registered organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses, and also the conversion of all their property, principally all houses of worship, into state income.
In their petition for compensation the believers emphasize that the basic demands on the Russian Federation are the return to them of confiscated real estate throughout Russian territory.
The ECHR ruled the appeals No. 10188/17 and No. 3215/18 acceptable and reported that it will consider them on a priority basis. In March 2018, the government of Russia sent to the Strasbourg court its comments on the merits of appeal No. 10188/17, "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and Kalin vs Russian Federation," emphasizing that the decision of the Supreme Court and the appellate determination, by which it was left in force, "do not give an assessment of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses and do not contain a restriction or prohibition to profess individually the aforementioned teaching" (par. 91). However, not a month had passed after this statement when there began in Russia massive searches and arrests of believers, which evokes the greatest concern, as a direct consequence of the Supreme Court's decision.
Mikhail Galperin based the delay for preparation of comments regarding the demands for compensation on the large number of petitions and the great volume of documentation, and also the necessity to conduct verification of the petitioned demands, which presupposes a request for information on the real estate from various bodies of the Russian government throughout the whole country. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 September 2018).
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