DISTRICT COURT OF OREL AGAIN EXTENDS DETENTION OF DANISH CITIZEN BELIEVER FOR THREE MONTHS

Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, 20 November 2017

On 20 November 2017, a judge of the Soviet district court of the city of Orel decided to leave a law-abiding Jehovah's Witness behind bars, extending until 23 February 2018 his detention in custody.

A local resident, Dennis Christensen, who has Danish citizenship and is married to an Orel woman, was arrested on 25 May 2017 during a Bible study, which he was attending along with his wife Irina.

Personnel of the F.S.B., investigating the case, declared without reason that Christensen "was continuing" the activity of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Orel, which had been liquidated by a court decision. Meanwhile, the believer was never a member of this organization, of which the court could have been convinced easily by simply looking at the documents received from the local...
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"GOD SIMPLY STILL HASN'T GIVEN UP." FOUR DAYS UNTIL THE BAN OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN RUSSIA

Will they change methods of ministry, violate the law, or all emigrate?

On 20 April the Russian Supreme Court found the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses to be extremist and prohibited its activity in our country. (An appeal of this decision was filed and it has not taken legal effect.) The Ministry of Justice discovered "violations of the charter goals of the organization and of current legislation in the RF," in particular, violation of the federal law "On combating extremist activity." The religious literature of the Witnesses (brochures, booklets, magazines Watchtower" and "Awake," etc.) have also been found to be extremist and their distribution has been prohibited. The property of the organization and of 396 Kingdom Halls (including the enormous complex of the headquarters of the Russian affiliate, "Administrative Center," in St. Petersburg) by the decision of the court will go to the benefit of the government.

Court refuses to grant habeas corpus to Danish Jehovah's Witness

IMPRISONED JEHOVAH'S WITNESS DENNIS CHRISTENSEN: "I AM COLD AND MY BIBLE WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM ME"

The Dane is the first Jehovist who was placed behind bars after the organization's ban.

 

Photos: Court building in Orel

The Orel provincial court on 21 June rejected the appeal against his detention from Danish citizen Dennis Christensen, who is charged with arranging the activity of an extremist organization. Christensen is the first Jehovah's Witness imprisoned in Russia after the prohibition of the organization by the Supreme Court. During the session, the Dane's defense attorney insisted on the groundlessness of his retention in custody and the defendant himself complained about the harsh conditions of being in the SIZO and he asked the court to release him to his family. A correspondent of Otkrytaya Rossia [Open Russia] observed the session.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES IN RUSSIA: DANISH CITIZEN FACES UP TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON AFTER BIBLE READING

A Danish citizen in Russia has been arrested and faces up to 10 years in prison after attending a private meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses last week. The detention of Dennis Christensen is the first since Russia’s Supreme Court upheld a ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses nationwide. It is also believed to be the first time that an individual has been arrested for practicing religion since the Soviet era.

First time an appeals court South Korea has ruled, FOR the Jehovah's Witnesses and AGAINST the government

But the appeals court in the southwestern city of Gwangju overturned the convictions and 18-month jail terms handed down by a lower court on two Jehovah’s Witnesses, arguing they had genuinely been motivated by religious convictions in refusing to serve.

"Religious and personal conscience is guaranteed by the constitution and cannot be restrained by criminal punishment," Yonhap news agency quoted the court as saying.

"The international community is recognising conscientious objectors," it said, while noting that "a consensus is shaping in our society on the need for an alternative service".

The judges also rejected prosecutors' calls to overturn a rare not-guilty verdict on a third conscientious objector -- also a Jehovah's Witness.

It was the first time an appeals court has ruled against the government in such cases. The timing and language of the judgement will provide a huge boost for advocates of reforming military service regulations.

DEPUTIES WANT TO BAN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BECAUSE OF THEIR RAPID GROWTH IN RUSSIA

The Sakhalin provincial duma supported an appeal by their colleagues from the Arkhangelsk provincial assembly for banning the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The deputies saw the reason for the ban not in the violation of any law but in the fact that "the number of Witnesses is growing at threatening rates."
 
Amazement is provoked by a whole series of facts.

Sixteen Jehovah’s Witnesses may be Russia’s most pacifist ‘extremists’

TAGANROG, RUSSIA — Alexey Koptev’s transformation from a respected Soviet factory foreman to suspected extremist began in 1992, when two Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on his front door to ask whether he kept a Bible at home.

The visit sparked a fateful religious revival in Koptev and his wife, who converted two years later in a seaside baptism. In 2011, Koptev, 71, became the target of an undercover police sting because of his ties to the religious organization, which now shares the same legal status in this city as the Islamic State or the neo-Nazi National Socialist Society.

Russia Should Embrace Its Religious Diversity

How will Europe's human rights court respond to a government that treats a pacifist religious group as a dangerous extremist cell? The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will answer that question this summer when it rules on whether Russia's prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses under its extremism law criminalizes freedom of religion or belief.

A ruling against the Kremlin could be a landmark decision for Russia, affecting not only Jehovah's Witnesses. From Muslims to dissenting members of the Moscow Patriarchate Russian Orthodox Church (MPROC), other Russians are also caught in the wide net cast by this overly broad law.

Russia’s Jehovah's Witnesses have scored a rare legal victory

After years of problems, the religious group scores a rare legal victory. A Moscow court had banned them in 2004.

Moscow  – Russia’s Jehovah's Witnesses have scored a rare legal victory. The Russian Justice Ministry had officially registered their Moscow branch as a religious organisation, this according to a statement issued yesterday by the group’s press service.
The press released noted that it had been banned in 2004 by a Moscow court, accused of recruiting children, encouraging the faithful to abandon their families, inciting suicide and preventing their followers from accepting medical treatment.
In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights called the ruling unjustified and ordered it be overturned.
For years, Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced legal problems in Russia (pictured: a

Russia: Trials of Jehovah’s Witnesses Continue

Taganrog re-trial of 16 Jehovah’s Witnesses continues

After multiple delays, the re-trial of 16 Jehovah’s Witnesses charged with “continuing the activities of an extremist organisation” after their community was dissolved in 2009 began on 18 March at Taganrog City Court. There have been 10 hearings so far, and a further six adjournments because of a defendant’s illness or for “other reasons”, according the court website. The next hearing is due to take place on 27 May.

Locals in Terjola threaten to start protests against Jehovah’s Witnesses

TBILISI, DFWatch–Jehovah’s Witnesses in Georgia claim that they are being discriminated against on religious grounds in Terjola, western Georgia.

Jehova’s Witnesses are building a new Kingdom Hall in Terjola. (Interpressnews.)

The conflict started about a year ago. Locals Orthodox Christians are against the construction of a new Kingdom Hall close to a school because it will ‘influence the children.’

Protest against Jehovah’s Witnesses seminar turns violent in Ra'anana

Hundreds show up to protest event, which is being held after a district court overturned the municipality's decision to block it.

Police pin down a protester outside the Jehova's Witnesses seminar, Ra'anana, May 2, 2015 Photo by Allison Kaplan Sommer 

A demonstration against a Jehovah’s Witnesses seminar being held in a municipal building turned violent in Ra’anana.

Hundreds of protesters showed up to protest the event, which was held on Saturday morning and continued throughout the day, after a prolonged court struggle in which the municipality unsuccessfully attempted to cancel the event.

Two days, earlier, a district court ruled that the objection to the event infringed on the right to freedom of religion and ritual and overturned the municipality’s decision to cancel the event so as not to “hurt the feelings of the public.”

Jehovah's Witness settles religious discrimination lawsuit

Shepherd, a Jehovah's Witness, claimed she lost her job because of her religious beliefs. The religious discrimination lawsuit filed in 2014 against Gannondale, a former residential treatment center for young women, has ended with a settlement.

Jehovah's Witnesses in Singapore

Freedom of religion
SECOND, Article 15 of the Singapore Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion and the right to propagate one's religion.
The Court of Appeal has held that it is not illegal for a Singapore citizen to be a Jehovah's Witness, a proscribed group. He is, however, not exempted from being called up to serve his national service.
In another case, the same court held that a citizen working in an educational institution is not exempted from singing the National Anthem or reciting the National Pledge on account of his religious beliefs. In other words, in Singapore, a citizen's right to religious freedom is subordinated to the public good.

Stephen Lett - Member of Governing Body about Child Abuse at Jehovah's Witnesses

Stephen Lett comment on tv.jw.org broadcasting about actual accusations of child abuse handling in the organization, some of them in court cases:

“Another way we can contribute to the oneness: rejecting false stories that are designed to separate us from Jehovah’s organization. As an example, think about the apostate-driven lies and dishonesties that Jehovah’s organization is permissive toward pedophiles. I mean, that is ridiculous, isn’t it! If anybody takes action against someone who would threaten our young ones, and takes action to protect our young ones, it is Jehovah’s organization. We reject outright such lies.”

UN rights' report includes attacks against religious minorities in Ukraine

GENEVA - A United Nations report says there are reliable indications of an ongoing influx of heavy and sophisticated weaponry to armed groups in eastern Ukraine comprising foreign fighters, including from Russia.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued its 9th report March 2 on the situation of human rights in Ukraine based covering the period from Dec. 1 to Feb. 15.

The report presents unresolved and emerging human rights challenges in the eastern regions of Ukraine and in Crimea as well as other parts of the country and it includes attacks against religious minorities.

Uzbek state media campaign against freedom of worship and religion

Tashkent (AsiaNews/F18) - Uzbekistan's official state media continue their campaign against religious communities and believers, targeting in particular Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Official newspapers pursue a campaign against religious communities and believers, such as Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses. One of their accusations is that the latter "turn children into zombies". Victims of slander have no chance to reply. In one case, defamatory articles led to four Christians losing their job.

According to Forum 18, a news service committed to documenting violations of religious freedom in Central Asia, various articles and editorials have appeared, attacking people who demand the right to religious freedom. What is more, victims are denied the right to reply to articles that contain unsubstantiated slanderous and defamatory content.

In one particularly telling case, a judge fined religious believers based on false information found in a number of articles. More generally, newspapers like to allege that those who practice faith use brainwashing techniques to "turn children into zombies".

While ‘‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’’ were meeting Azerbaijani officials, their supporters were arrested

The members of the religious organisation “Jehovah’s Witnesses” Makhluk Ahmedov and Ismail Bagirov were detained in the Azerbaijani settlement Lokbatan. According to the information received, the detained were engaged in agitation, and 10 ”religious books forbidden to be disseminated” were confiscated from them, the Azerbaijani information portal “Haqqin.az” says referring to the information provided by Ministry of Internal Affairs press-service.