Admin l Wednesday, October 31, 2018
DONETSK REPUBLIC – Jehovah’s Witnesses in Donetsk Peoples Republic(DPR) are not finding things easy. They are facing what amounts to the highest level of state sponsored religious repression in history.
It all started with a unilateral decision by Supreme Cout of the land which on September 26 declared the religious association of Jehovah’s Witnesses to be “extremist,” taking after Russia and effectively banning activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
What is however nauseating about the whole thing is the unprecedented record set by the Supreme Court which unilaterally took the decision to outlaw the religious organisation without any fair trial.
“Neither the general prosecutor, who initiated the claim against our legal entity, nor the Court consulted with any of the Jehovah’s Witnesses during the proceedings”, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said on their website.
The ban is the latest development in an escalating pattern of religious oppression against Jehovah’s Witnesses in the region. According to the statement , situation has deteriorated such that at 170 witnesses were interrogated, 16 Kingdom Halls were confiscated, while a Kingdom Hall was set ablaze.
“The situation of our brothers in certain territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in eastern Ukraine, has deteriorated since the DPR Supreme Court declared some of our publications to be “extremist” in mid-2017. During that year, police interrogated over 170 Witnesses. Authorities in the regions have also systematically seized Kingdom Halls. As of August 29, 2018, a total of 16 Kingdom Halls have been confiscated. Despite these attacks on their worship, our brothers and sisters in these territories are continuing to rely on the ‘God of salvation.’—Psalm 18:46”, the JWS said.
