For Immediate Release
November 23, 1999
(Russian)

Jehovah's Witnesses win Russian constitutional case, but Court upholds 15-year rule in 1997 religion law

MOSCOW—Russia's Constitutional Court released its decision upholding the clause in the 1997 law requiring religions applying for registration to show documented proof of their presence in Russia for more than 15 years.

However, the Court ruled that this clause would not apply to congregations that were registered before passage of the 1997 law or to congregations that are part of a registered "centralized religious organization." The Court stated that the 15-year clause must be taken in context with the rest of the law and not viewed in isolation alone.

The result is that the congregations of some religions, such as the two involved in this case—Jehovah's Witnesses and the Pentecostals—should not experience difficulty from the 15-year rule when applying for registration. On the other hand, the decision also means that the congregations of many other minority religions will still face this obstacle.

This case did not address other controversial aspects of the 1997 law on religion, which include distinguishing between "religious organizations" and "religious groups," with denial of basic rights to the latter.

Judge V. Zorkin of the Constitutional Court affirmed Russia's commitment to standards of international law, which define religious freedom as an inalienable human right, and acknowledged the authority of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue.

This challenge to the 1997 law was brought by the Yaroslavl Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Glorification Pentecostal Church in Khakassia. The Yaroslavl Congregation has been in existence since 1967 but was registered only in 1992. After passage of the 1997 law, the public prosecutor in Yaroslavl declared some of the congregation's activities illegal, primarily because the congregation did not have an official document confirming its existence in Yaroslavl for at least 15 years.

According to the Deputy Chairman of the Commission of Religious Associations of the Russian Federation, at least 12,000 of the more than 17,000 religious organizations in Russia are threatened with liquidation by judicial order.

The national office of Jehovah's Witnesses received reregistration on April 29, 1999, as a religious organization with more than 50 years in Russia. Jehovah's Witnesses have been present in Russia for more than a century and are legally registered in 158 countries.

Contact in Moscow: Aleksei Nazarychev, telephone: (095) 792-5612,
Albert Polanski cell phone (902) 680 1779
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