JEHOVAH’S WITNESS ACTIVITY
CONSIDERED BY MOSCOW COURT

Throughout its history, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has found itself in a variety of legal contests to win freedom for expression of its doctrine and practice. Court cases against local municipalities regarding door-to-door proselytizing by its members, national (and even international) encounters with the highest court in the land with respect to its anti-government stands, fights against judge-imposed blood transfusions for its members, and child custody battles between Jehovah’s Witness and non-Jehovah’s Witness parents have become commonplace. Now a civil court case involving the Watchtower in Moscow is being closely monitored by many religious denominations and groups.

A law established in 1997 by the Russian government restricted nontraditional denominations in respect to religious worship and activity. The legislation further required all religious organizations to re-register, which has been criticized by human rights groups and the United States as discriminatory. The statute authorizes the courts to disband groups they find guilty of inciting hatred or intolerant behavior.

The 1997 ruling also assisted the preeminence of the Russian Orthodox Church, and last summer the church called for a ban on proselytizing groups, specifically those moving the Russian people away from the “religions of their ancestors.”

According to the New York Times, a complaint filed by a Moscow district prosecutor against the Jehovah’s Witnesses charges the sect had “violated the 1997 law by preaching religious discrimination, breaking up families, withholding medical treatment — all in the name of their ‘one true religion.’” The newspaper also reported that from “an exhaustive textual analysis of literature disseminated by the Witnesses’ door-to-door proselytizers, the prosecutors concluded that ‘overseers’ in Russia and abroad ‘not only control the spiritual environment of the congregation but also subject the manner of life, thinking, psyche and conduct of every member of the sect.’”

The prosecutors have assembled more than 20 people to testify as to the destruction inflicted upon their family and finances as a result of the Watchtower organization. A top expert from the Serbski Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry furnished written testimony that “the teaching and activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses contains factors that may lead to neuroticism and a state of depression.”

The Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the prosecution claims, saying no supporting evidence has been produced and accuse the Russians of reverting to Soviet-style attempts to control all religious activity.

Despite the attempts by Moscow prosecutors to ban activity by the Watchtower, their efforts may have been thwarted by the Russian Justice Ministry’s re-registration of the group as a religious organization, according to a May 7 report by the Reuters News Service.

“We are very pleased with this development and hope that it will have a positive impact on the court case in Moscow,” said Judah Schroeder, a Watchtower representative in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Schroeder said the group had been re-registered under the name “Administrative Center for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.” He added that the word “Russia” in the official name was given only to religious organizations that had existed in the country for more than 50 years.

“The Russian Federation’s decision to re-register the Jehovah’s Witnesses is the right decision. We hope that local officials in Moscow will follow suit,” said Lyudmila Alekseyeva, president of the International Helsinki Federation. Secular human rights groups, as well, hailed the move.

In March, a judge overseeing the case ruled that a panel of experts should decide whether to uphold the prosecutor’s claims and ban the Jehovah’s Witnesses. At the time this newsletter went to print, that decision had not been reached.

Christian leaders from various denominations continue to monitor the court’s decisions, fearing a reprisal against their missionary efforts as well, if a final judgment goes against the Watchtower. The litigation also has the eye of the United States Senate which has an established law stating that American aid to Russia is contingent upon religious freedom.

Although a ruling against the Watchtower by the local Moscow court would not affect the national status of the sect or its activity, some feel it would encourage a domino-effect — where other local judges would follow the lead of Moscow’s civil court.

According to the New York Times, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have 130,000 adherents throughout Russia, with 10,000 living in Moscow. The Reuters news report said, “The group says it has existed in Russia for more than a century and claims about 250,000 members nationwide.”

—MKG

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