Admin l Wednesday, March 22, 2017
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES MOBILISE 8 MILLION MEMBERS IN CAMPAIGN OVER THREAT TO BAN ACTIVITIES IN RUSSIA
NEW YORK, United States – The headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses has decided to mobilize over 8 million members worldwide to pressurize President Vladimir Putin and the Supreme Court from carrying out threats to proscribe their activities on Russian soil.
They are doing the appeal through a global letter-writing campaign.
“The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is inviting the over 8,000,000 Witnesses worldwide to participate”, in the campaign the organisation said. Download instructions for the letter writing and addresses at https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/jw-mobilize-global-response-to-threat-of-ban/
On March 15, 2017, Russia’s Ministry of Justice filed a claim with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to label the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia as extremist and liquidate it.
The claim also seeks to ban the activities of the Administrative Center.
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“If the Supreme Court upholds this claim, the Witnesses’ national headquarters near St. Petersburg will be shut down. Subsequently, some 400 registered Local Religious Organizations would be liquidated, outlawing the services of over 2,300 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
“The branch property, as well as places of worship used by Witnesses throughout the country, could be seized by the State. Additionally, individual Jehovah’s Witnesses would become subject to criminal prosecution for merely carrying out their worship activities”, the Witnesses said. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the claim on April 5.
“The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses wants to heighten attention to this critical situation,” states David A. Semonian, a spokesman at the Witnesses’ world headquarters. “Prosecuting non-violent, law-abiding citizens as if they were terrorists is clearly a misapplication of anti-extremist laws. Such prosecution is based on completely false grounds.”
The Witnesses’ global campaign is not without precedent. Nearly 20 years ago, Witnesses wrote to defend their fellow worshipers in Russia in response to a smear campaign by some members of the government in power at the time.
Additionally, Witnesses have initiated past letter-writing campaigns to motivate government officials to end persecution of Witnesses in other countries, including Jordan, Korea, and Malawi.
“Reading the Bible, singing, and praying with fellow worshippers is clearly not criminal,” adds Mr. Semonian. “We hope that our global letter-writing campaign will motivate Russian officials to stop this unjustifiable action against our fellow worshippers.”
Also see SPECIAL APPEAL TO PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN ON JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES IN RUSSIA
3 Comments
The picture is actually misleading with your caption… The picture is not an administrative center of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is actually a Catholic Cathedral of Christ the Savior which opened in 1999. Also, the information of trying to pressurize Putin but to persuade him. He is also one of about 6 other Public Officials to be addressed in the many letters that are going to be composed by Jehovah’s Witnesses. This site’s article is biased and doesn’t present the facts in a straightforward and reliable manner. The official link for this news source is actually: https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/jw-mobilize-global-response-to-threat-of-ban/
This “ban of activities” does not only affect Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia but ALL Relegions. GET IT STRAIGHT @starcinnect”. To the folks reading this post, maybe you should consider writing a letter too or get involved. If it happens over there it could happen here in the US.
no threats are being made. JW.org has instructions to writing the letter, it encourages to be respectful and not have a threatening tone. We have nothing to threaten with anyway. We are peaceful people, with no aim to violence or riot. this article has a bias tone and has much untruth