For Immediate Release
February 19, 2002

Outrage over prosecutor's conduct

MOSCOW—Fears for the future of religious freedom in Russia were expressed today by John Burns, a Canadian attorney, during a test case in a Moscow court to liquidate Jehovah's Witnesses.

"I am outraged that Tatyana Kondratyeva, the Moscow City prosecutor who brought this case, is roaming at will through confidential medical records, without the knowledge or consent of the patient or the patient's family, reading them out in court and even discussing them on national TV. Prosecutors like that are loose cannons, answerable to no one but themselves. They are a menace to the future of justice in Russia.

"As an attorney with 20 years' experience of litigation—mostly in medical cases—I have never witnessed such unabashed admission of the misuse of medical records. When our defence team protested, she declined to apologise, but just said, 'So sue me!' Well, she might be interested to know that we are now seriously considering doing just that."

The test case is being held in the Golovinsky Intermunicipal District Court, where last year the Witnesses won a two-year trial, during which, Mr Burns said, "Prosecution came close to being persecution. We have been put through seven years of criminal investigation and expensive trials that have failed to show any misconduct on the part of our 10,000 members here in Moscow.

"On top of that, the Moscow City court referred this case back to the same court with the prospect of a different decision. I fear for the future of law and justice in the new Russia if this Moscow prosecutor is allowed to get away with this grotesque parody."

The prosecution have said that they intend to use a verdict of liquidation on Moscow's Witnesses to close their 1,350 congregations throughout the Russian Federation. Human Rights observers fear that other minority faiths might later be targeted under the same legislation.

Some churches have already been closed, most notoriously the Salvation Army, but also the Evangelical Lutheran church, the New Generation church, and the Zion Protestant church.

Oxford's Keston Institute is warning about the implications of a new draft law to close some faiths, Geraldine Fagan reports. The new draft law was characterised by a Duma deputy as "ideological legislation, which shouldn't exist in principle."

The Golovinsky test case is expected to last a further two weeks.

Contacts:
Russian-speaking, Jaroslav Sivulskii, mobile phone: +7 902 682 8197
English-speaking, Paul Stevenson, mobile phone: +7 095 104 3750
Albert Polanski, mobile phone: +7 905 104 3688