Jehovah’s Witnesses

For Immediate Release
March 19, 2012
(Russian)

Court reverses decision regarding publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses—orders retrial

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—On February 15, 2012, the Kemerovo Regional Court ordered a retrial in the case in which two brochures published by Jehovah’s Witnesses were pronounced to be “extremist materials.”

On May 30, 2011, the Zavodskiy District Court of Kemerovo declared the brochures as extremist without allowing the publisher of the literature an opportunity to participate in the trial. The publisher found out about the decision only after the brochures appeared on the List of Extremist Materials posted on the Web site of the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice. Attorney Vitaly Kuznetsov stated: “Neither the prosecutor nor the court viewed it as necessary to invite the publisher to take part in the case. This is in violation of the Russian Constitution which guarantees that everyone can defend their rights before a court. We are determined to ensure that these brochures will be removed from the extremist list compiled by the Ministry of Justice.”

Media Contacts:
J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel. +1 718 560 5600
Russia: Grigory Martynov, tel. +7 812 702 2691
Belgium: European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +32 2 782 0015