For Immediate Release
March 10, 2000

Delayed justice: Suspension of first trial testing Russia's religion law reaches one-year anniversary

While a decision on whether to ban her religious faith in Moscow has entered its second year in limbo, Zoya Cherednichenko, an elderly member of Jehovah's Witnesses, continues to attend religious services, talk about her faith to others and distribute Bible literature. In some ways, nothing has changed.

But as a result of the delayed justice, she travels more than an hour to attend her religious services at a house of worship where 17 growing congregations juggle schedules in order to share the same building. Without a decision from the Moscow court exonerating Jehovah's Witnesses, they continue to have problems renting meeting places or obtaining permits to build and renovate their own.

"On one hand, we are grateful for the fact that we have not been banned," she said. "On the other hand, we would like to have a decision made and to have our name cleared once and for all."

March 12 marks one year of suspension for the first court test of Russia's 1997 religion law. The Moscow prosecutor's office used the new law in an attempt to ban Jehovah's Witnesses from the city. Rather than rendering a verdict, the judge suspended the trial pending an "expert" evaluation of Jehovah's Witness doctrine.

Since then, other regional officials inside Russia have used the same delay tactic of having an "expert panel" determine the validity of religious doctrine. This includes the regions of Novgorod and Oryol. On March 1, 2000, the Ministry of Justice stated that the regional demand for such studies violated the law. In the regions of Lipetsk and Ryazan, officials have denied registration on religions grounds, such as an expert opinion that disagrees with Jehovah's Witnesses' view of the trinity. The European Court of Human Rights, to which Russia is subject, has already determined that a government does not have the authority to determine whether a religion's beliefs are true or correct.

The civil trial in Moscow was the first to test Russia's new law on religion in the courts. Hearings began on September 29, 1998, and were postponed twice before the suspension—once to allow time for the Moscow Prosecutor's Office to find evidence for its charges, which it was unable to do. Four consecutive criminal cases on the same charges were dismissed for lack of evidence.

Jehovah's Witnesses have been present in Russia for more than a century and are legally registered in 158 countries. They were reregistered in Russia under the new religion law on April 29, 1999.

Contact in Moscow: Aleksei Nazarychev, telephone: (095) 792-5612,
Contact in United States: Judah B. Schroeder, telephone: (718) 560-5600