Jehovah’s Witnesses

For Immediate Release
September 2, 2010
(Russian)

Supreme Court of Russia to hear appeal in case regarding banning of literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses

MOSCOW—On September 7, 2010, the Russian Federation Supreme Court will hear the interlocutory appeal filed by the Wachtturm Bibel- und Traktat-Gesellschaft der Zeugen Jehovas, against the September 11, 2009, decision of the Rostov Regional Court. The Rostov court’s decision wrongly labelled 34 Christian publications published by Wachtturm as extremist. At the time, the Rostov court did not even notify Wachtturm of the hearing and considered the case in the absence of its representatives.

Mr. Horst Henschel, a member of the board of directors of Wachtturm Bibel- und Traktat-Gesellschaft, expressed his bewilderment over this decision: “The hearing was held in our absence even though the court had the means to contact us, since each piece of our literature indicates the publisher’s data. The decision of September 11, 2009, grossly violated our rights since it negatively affected our reputation as a publisher and resulted in the Russian authorities refusing to allow us to import the literature, which we have been printing for Russia for several decades. We have disputed the decision in the Supreme Court and hope that Russia will act in a way proving that it desires to abide by international legal standards.”

Anton Omelchenko, an attorney and legal expert, commented on the incident: “The current trend of pronouncing religious literature as extremist in the absence of the publisher’s representatives is shocking. By preventing the publisher from defending its rights, the Rostov Regional Court made a serious mistake. Such a violation demonstrates discrimination, which is prohibited under the provisions of Article 14 of the European Convention.”

According to Mr. Henschel and the representatives of other foreign organizations, the upcoming hearing at the Supreme Court of Russia will have a crucial effect not only on the legal entities of Jehovah’s Witnesses but also on other foreign organizations that are present in Russia.

The court session of the Russia Supreme Court for the appeal will take place on September 7, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. at the following location: Moscow, ulitsa Povarskaya 15, hall 5038.

Contacts
In Russia: Sergey Tarasov, tel. +7 812 702 2691
In Germany: Wolfram Slupina, tel. + 49 6483 413110
In USA: J. R. Brown, tel. +1 718 560 5000