For Immediate Release
June 27, 2001
Supreme Court reverses order to liquidate Jehovah's Witnesses in Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia
NALCHIK, KABARDINO-BALKARIA—On June 19, the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, reversed a lower court's order to liquidate the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Prokhladny and returned the prosecutor's application to liquidate for a new hearing. Kabardino-Balkaria is part of the Russian Federation in the Northern Caucasus region, near war-torn Chechnya.
Vyacheslav Tumakov, representative for the Prokhladny community of about 500 associates commented: "We have one building for worship, a Kingdom Hall, used by five congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. We built it ourselves in 1996. The liquidation order would have denied us the right to use it for Bible study, prayer and worship."
"This is 2001, not 1951," said Canadian human rights lawyer John Burns, alluding to Stalin's forced exile of thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses and other minorities to Siberia 50 years ago. He asked the court: "Where is the injury to the state because Prokhladny sent a few members to assist fellow believers spiritually in nearby Mozdok? Technical interpretations of registration should not be used as a 'lethal weapon' to defeat freedom of religion."
The lower court had earlier ordered liquidation because the Prokhladny community acted outside its "territorial limitations." Representatives traveled to nearby Mozdok in North Ossetia to assist a small group of Witnesses to conduct meetings and to rent premises. They also received 500 rubles ($16.00 US) in donations over a two-year period.
"There is no 'territorial limitation' in the community's Charter or the law," said Russian lawyer Artur Leontyev. "The prosecutor's argument shows reactionary forces persist in using Soviet-style thinking to hamper religious freedom for minorities . . . Problems for Jehovah's Witnesses in KBR are not over," added Leontyev. "In addition to a new trial in Prokhladny, we will be back in the Supreme Court on July 10. The Ministry of Justice has appealed two other lower court decisions ordering registration of Jehovah's Witnesses in Prokhladny, Nalchik, Maiskiy and Nartkala."
There are 2,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Kabardino-Balkaria, and some 275,000 associated with Jehovah's Witnesses across Russia.