Russia Supreme Court considers ban on Jehovah's Witnesses

by AndersonsInfo 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  AndersonsInfo

  http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/06/russia-supreme-court-upholds-ban-on-jehovah-witnesses.html

  Published April 06, 2017
  

  Associated Press
  
  

  MOSCOW – State news agency RIA Novosti says Russia's Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the city court in Birobidzhan to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses, a decision that comes amid proceedings on a Justice Ministry suit to ban the religious organization in Russia altogether.
  

  Jehovah's Witnesses claim more than 170,000 adherents in Russia. The group, however, has come under increasing pressure over the past year, including a ban on distributing literature deemed to violate Russia's anti-extremism laws.
  

  Russian investigators inspected the religion's headquarters in St. Petersburg in February.
  

  David Semonian, a spokesman at its world headquarters in New York, said regarding the proposed national ban that the Jehovah's Witnesses hope "Russia's Supreme Court will uphold the rights of our fellow believers in Russia to freely carry out their peaceful worship."

  
  
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  TimDrake1914

  Considering the appeal hearing is continuing today, this is yet another example of "Fake News", courtesy of Fox News.
  
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  Poztate

  Tim.. It might be good if you read the story first and then comment on it
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  AndersonsInfo

  "State news agency RIA Novosti says Russia's Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the city court in Birobidzhan to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses, a decision that comes amid proceedings on a Justice Ministry suit to ban the religious organization in Russia altogether."

  Where is Birobidzhan?

  Birobidzhan is a city found in Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia. It is located 48.79 latitude and 132.92 longitude and it is situated at elevation 86 meters above sea level.
  

  Birobidzhan has a population of 76,146 making it the biggest city in Jewish Autonomous Oblast. It operates on the LMT time zone.
  

  Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a autonomous region found in the nation of Russia. Home to 190,915 people, it is the 80th largest division in Russia in terms of population.
  

  Jewish Autonomous Oblast gained its current status as a autonomous region in the year 1934. The government of Jewish Autonomous Oblast is lead by Aleksandr Levinthaland is based in the autonomous region capital of Birobidzhan (Population: 76,146).
  

  
  
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  AndersonsInfo

  The following report is about another case involving JWs in Russia:
  

  http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2269

  KAZAKHSTAN: Lawyers now face trial for defending client
  

  April 3, 2017
  

  By Felix Corley, Forum 18
  

  The two lawyers for a Jehovah's Witness now on trial in Astana are themselves under criminal investigation. The KNB secret police investigator accuses them of "revealing information from a pre-trial investigation" by appealing to President Nazarbayev for the case against their client to be halted.
  

  Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB) secret police has opened a criminal case against two lawyers defending a Jehovah's Witness on trial for exercising freedom of religion and belief. Vitaly Kuznetsov and Natalya Kononenko are facing criminal investigation seeking to punish them for appealing to Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev for the charges against their client to be dropped. Charges were brought against the lawyers even before the trial they were working on began in the capital Astana.
  
  The KNB secret police accuses Kuznetsov and Kononenko of "revealing information from a pre-trial investigation" under Criminal Code Article 423. Kuznetsov described the accusation to Forum 18 as "absurd". An Astana-based legal specialist told Forum 18 the accusation was "bizarre" (see below).
  
  Astana Prosecutor's Office handed the case to Asilzhan Gabdykaparov of the General Prosecutor's Office, it told Forum 18 on 3 April. His telephone went unanswered the same day.
  
  KNB Major Medet Duskaziyev – who initiated the criminal cases against Jehovah's Witnesses Teymur Akhmedov and Asaf Guliyev, as well as the two lawyers Kuznetsov and Kononenko – refused to answer any of Forum 18's questions on 30 March.
  

  READ MORE: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2269