WHY RUSSIA’S SUPREME COURT MAY REVERSE BAN ON JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, FIXES JULY 17 FOR APPEAL

MOSCOW, Russia – The Supreme Court of Russia has fixed July 17 to hear appeal filed by Jehovah’s Witnesses, following the decision of the court on April 20, 2017.

The Supreme Court had liquidated the administrative centre of the witnesses and over 300 local religious organisations in Russia in a judgement read by by Judge Yuriy Ivanenko.

A three-judge panel of the Appellate Chamber of the Supreme Court will hear the appeal on July 17, 2017.

“The appeal requests a full reversal of the ruling. It emphasizes that the ruling is not based on factual evidence and that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not guilty of extremist activity in any way. The appeal also highlights that the charges that led to the Supreme Court ruling are the same charges that authorities used as a basis to persecute the Witnesses during the Soviet era.

“They were later rehabilitated and exonerated from these charges. Additionally, the appeal emphasized that the ruling contradicts the guarantees of religious freedom embodied in Russia’s Constitution and its international commitments”, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said on their website.

The ruling is already affecting the Witnesses in ways reminiscent of the oppression they experienced under Communist rule.
Authorities are prosecuting some Witnesses for “extremist activity,” employers have dismissed Witnesses from their jobs, schoolteachers have intimidated Witness students in front of their classmates, and biased individuals have vandalized Kingdom Halls and firebombed two homes of Witnesses—burning the homes to the ground.

Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide hope that the Appellate Chamber of Russia’s Supreme Court will see the injustice of the earlier ruling and reverse it, thus protecting religious freedom and the security of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.