Our family photographs, our passports and other personal documents, and Bibles have been confiscated. They are trying to force us to live in fear and shake every time there’s a knock at the door or the sound of a siren on the street, as we await arrest merely for our faith. Some believers have already been dismissed from their places of work after many years of faultless work just because the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is banned in Russia
Emmanuel Ukudolo l Wednesday, June 13, 2018
MOSCOW, Russia – Agents of President Vladimir Putin are not relenting in their quest to frustrate Jehovah Witnesses from going about their routine activities. Dozens of JWs, as Jehovah’s Witnesses often call themselves are currently in Russia’s prison on mere suspicion of reading the Holy Bible and praying together and with each passing day, the number is increasing.
Many have lost their jobs as a result of activities of security forces. Most of them now live in fear unable to live a normal life.
“Under the guise of fighting extremism, many of us, and even our children, have been threatened with weapons by agents of the special forces and ordered to lie face down. Our homes have been raided and searched, our telephones and computers have been seized, so we can’t work or live a normal life.
“Our family photographs, our passports and other personal documents, and Bibles have been confiscated. They are trying to force us to live in fear and shake every time there’s a knock at the door or the sound of a siren on the street, as we await arrest merely for our faith. Some believers have already been dismissed from their places of work after many years of faultless work just because the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is banned in Russia”, wives of Jehovah’s Witnesses said in an open letter to Hon. Fedotov of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.
Eleven wives of the witnesses wrote the letter. They are Alyona Vilitkevich (Republic of Bashkortostan) Anna Zyablova (Magadan Region)Yulia Klimova (Tomsk Region)Galina Kochneva (Orenburg Region)Irina Christensen (Oryol Region) Svetlana Markina (Murmansk Region)Tatyana Petrova (Magadan Region)Anastasia Puyda (Khabarovsk Territory)Natalia Suvorova (Orenburg Region) Trofimova Ulyana (Murmansk Region)
See full text of letter below:
To the Russian Federation Presidential CouncilFor the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights Honorable Mr. Fedotov! Honorable members of the Human Rights Council!
This open letter to you is a cry of desperation. People who are very dear to us, our husbands, those who feed us, the fathers of our children, peaceable, honest people, who are always ready to help others, are being thrown behind bars for being suspected of reading Bible commandments and praying together with us and our children to the God whose name, as recorded in the Bible, is Jehovah.
As of this day in Russia already 17 individuals are being held in pre-trial detention. One of our fellow believers has been in custody for over a year. Dozens more believers, in 11 regions of Russia, are under house arrest or are forbidden to leave their cities of residence.
With each passing day, their number is increasing. Taking into account that in Russia there are 175,000 professing the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses, we wonder how many more dozens, hundreds or thousands of victims of conscience will it take before the unjust criminal persecution of people for their faith in God is brought to an end.
Under the guise of fighting extremism, many of us, and even our children, have been threatened with weapons by agents of the special forces and ordered to lie face down. Our homes have been raided and searched, our telephones and computers have been seized, so we can’t work or live a normal life. Our family photographs, our passports and other personal documents, and Bibles have been confiscated. They are trying to force us to live infear and shake every time there’s a knock at the door or the sound of a siren on the street,as we await arrest merely for our faith. Some believers have already been dismissed from their places of work after many years of faultless work just because the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is banned in Russia.
We cannot find the answers to the questions of why we are being subjected to such harassment in our country, and which religion will be
the next to fall victim after us? The law-enforcement agencies that are persecuting our husbands for their faith in God explain that it is because of the April 20, 2017, decision of the Russian Federation Supreme Court to liquidate all legal entities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
However, both the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice, during the hearing at the Supreme Court, and the Russian Federation Government, after the decision was handed down, officially stated that the court’s decision would not result in any violations of the rights of citizens to freedom of worship.
The aforementioned decision of the Supreme Court did not ban the religion of Jehovah’sWitnesses in Russia. It only involved legal entities. So why are the law-enforcement agents acting in contravention of the will of the government of our country? Who in our country benefits from the mass repression of religious believers? Why are our relatives being accused of a serious crime with the prospect of imprisonment from 6 to 10 years for fictitious extremist activity (Article 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code)? Why are the law- enforcement agents mistakenly interpreting peaceful expression of faith on God for participation in an extremist organization?
Alyona Vilitkevich (Republic of Bashkortostan)
Anna Zyablova (Magadan Region)
Yulia Klimova (Tomsk Region)
Galina Kochneva (Orenburg Region)
Irina Christensen (Oryol Region)
Svetlana Markina (Murmansk Region)
Tatyana Petrova (Magadan Region)
Anastasia Puyda (Khabarovsk Territory)
Natalia Suvorova (Orenburg Region)
Trofimova Ulyana (Murmansk Region)
