Russia close to outlaw Jehovah’s Witnesses

jw.org

Russia’s Supreme Court will continue hearing on Thursday a request by the government to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses and declare the Christian group an extremist organisation.

Hearing in the case began Wednesday.

On March 16, the Russian government filed a suit to outlaw the organisation, which is already considered an extremist group in St. Petersburg where it is headquartered.

The group has 175,000 members in Russia and 395 branches across the country. Worldwide there are more than 7 million members.

Lawyers for the group filed a counter suit before Wednesday’s hearing, saying they are victims of political repression.

The court, however, said it’s “ineligible to review this lawsuit” because other courts are responsible for determining whether a person or group have been politically repressed.

The ministry said the Jehovah’s Witnesses “violate Russia’s law on combating extremism” and their pamphlets incite hatred…



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