PUTIN UNDER FIRE OVER BAN ON JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Emmanuel Ukudolo l Thursday, August 10, 2017

LAGOS, Nigeria – President Vladimir Putin is currently under verbal fire over ban on activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.

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he religious group are neither allowed to preach nor to meet for worship throughout the Russian Federation based on the ruling of the Supreme Court on April 20, 2017, which outlawed their activities throughout the federation.

The Witnesses appealed the decision. But on July 17, 2017, a three-judge panel of the Appellate Chamber of Russia’s Supreme Court upheld the April 20 decision “to liquidate the organization’s ‘Administrative Center and the local religious organizations that are part of its structure [and] to turn over to the Russian Federation all propertiesf of the liquidated religious organization.

People of goodwill from all faith communities as well as all those who cherish freedom of conscience rights must stand in solidarity with the Jehovah’s Witnesses of Russia

But this decision has not gone down well with world leaders and in the process engendering a vaudeville of bashing for President Vladimir Putin and members of his cabinet.

Minister for Human Rights, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Great Britain, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said the ruling confirms the criminalisation of the peaceful worship of 175,000 Russian citizens and contravenes the right to religious freedom that is enshrined in the Russian Constitution.

Spokesman, U.S Department of State, Heather Nauert described the decisio as the latest in a disturbing trend of persecution of religious minorities in Russia.

“We urge the Russian authorities to lift the ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activities in Russia, to reverse the closing of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Administrative Center and to release any members of religious minorities that continue to be unjustly detained for so-called ‘extremist’ activities,” he appealed.

For Spokesperson of the European Union External Action Services, Jehovah’s Witnesses, like all other religious groups, must be able to peacefully enjoy freedom of assembly without interference, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as by Russia’s international commitments and international human rights standards.

Chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Daniel Mark explained that the Supreme Court’s decision sadly reflects the government’s continued equation of peaceful religious freedom practice to extremism.

“The Witnesses are not an extremist group, and should be able to practice their faith openly and freely and without government repression,” he said.

On his part, Coordinator for Intersocietal Cooperation With Russia, Central Asia, and the Eastern Partnership Countries, Foreign Ministry of Germany, Gernot Erler said he is very concerned by the fact that the court ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia has been upheld.

According to him, despite appeals on a number of levels, this move makes the peaceful enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion and thought a criminal offence.

President, Lantos Foundation, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett noted that Russia’s recent outrageous decision to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses from existing as a recognized faith community in Russia is a complete violation of the protections for freedom of religion and belief in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“People of goodwill from all faith communities as well as all those who cherish freedom of conscience rights must stand in solidarity with the Jehovah’s Witnesses of Russia,” he said.
Also speaking on the ban, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel who was speaking at a press conference with Putin said she asked President Vladimir Putin to use his influence to guarantee minority rights here as well as with Jehovah’s witnesses.

Co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee for the Russian Federation, Theodora Bakoyannis and Liliane Maury Pasquier said the decision of the Supreme Court to declare Jehovah’s Witnesses Administrative Center in the Russian Federation an extremist organisation, and to close it down, together with the 395 Local Religious Organisations used by Witnesses, raises serious concerns regarding freedom of religion in Russia….. it is another example of the legislation against extremism being abused to curtail freedom of expression and assembly.”

Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Senator Roger Wicker noted that Russia’s failure to respect religious freedom is yet another inexcusable violation of Moscow’s OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] commitments.

“People who practice their faith peacefully should never be in danger of being harassed, fined, or jailed. The court order to seize organization property owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses adds insult to injury”, he said.

Disrurbed by the development, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Michael Georg Link said he is deeply concerned by this unwarranted criminalization of the peaceful activities of members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses communities in Russia, eliminating this community as a viable entity in the country.

People who practice their faith peacefully should never be in danger of being harassed, fined, or jailed. The court order to seize organization property owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses adds insult to injury

“This Supreme Court decision poses a threat to the values and principles that democratic, free, open, pluralistic and tolerant societies rest upon”, while Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Discrimination, Professor Ingeborg Gabriel said the ban persecuting peaceful persons for mere acts of worship clearly violates the fundamental right to religious freedom and with it international human rights standards guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. It therefore needs to be revised as soon as possible”, he said. For the former Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Joyce Anelay, the ban is alarming .

“This ruling effectively criminalizes the peaceful worship of 175,000 Russian citizens and contravenes the right to religious freedom which is enshrined in the Russian Constitution. The UK calls on the Russian government to uphold its international commitment to this basic freedom,” she posited.

In its reaction, Permanent Council of the OSCE adopted a statement from the European Union (EU), calling on Russia to allow Jehovah’s Witnesses to “be able to peacefully enjoy freedom of assembly without interference, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation as well as by Russia’s international commitments and international human rights standards.

The statement was unanimously adopted in Vienna by all 28 member states of the EU, and other non-EU member countries such as Australia, Canada and Norway