Representatives of the religious organization consider the lawsuit “a big mistake. Jehovah's Witnesses sect banned in Russia - Ministry of Justice suspended activities for extremism filed a lawsuit to close the Supreme Court Ministry of Justice sued Jehovah's Witnesses

“Let your word be: yes, yes; no no; but what is more than this is from the evil one.”

(Gospel of Matthew 5:37)

On April 12, 2017, the hearing of the Supreme Court continued on the claim of the Ministry of Justice Russian Federation on the liquidation of the Religious Organization "Administrative Center (MC) of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and several hundred local religious organizations (LROs). Today's meeting was, of course, unique due to the fact that for the first time in the history of the confrontation between the SoI and government agencies, former members of the Soi organization with many years of experience acted as witnesses in the case. They expressed a desire to testify as people whose rights and freedoms, in their opinion, were violated by the organization.

The situation was more than piquant, because about 200 Jehovah's Witnesses present at the meeting were forced to listen to the testimony of four former fellow believers, who showed the opposite side inner life organizations. As you know, Jehovah's Witnesses are strictly forbidden to communicate with the so-called apostates - former members of the organization who are active in anti-witness activities. One of these witnesses in the case was a woman who became a member of the organization back in 1983! She was expelled from the organization for hanging out with a friend who had previously been expelled from the community.

I have never had the opportunity to attend such meetings before. And I specifically decided to visit it to see everything with my own eyes. What struck me about this meeting? First of all, by the way the argumentation of the defense of the CA was built. It is worth saying that all lawyers representing the interests of the UC are convinced Jehovah's Witnesses and employees of the UC itself. Among them were elders. No less curious were the testimonies of the defense witnesses. As such, four members of the organization were invited - people involved in science and having high scientific degrees.

I will not bore readers with the legal side of the case and the course of the entire trial. I will only point out the most important things. The prosecution, represented by representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, aims to prove the direct connection and implementation of the leadership of the MRO SI in the field from the CA. This is necessary in order to prosecute the CA for the leadership of the LROs that were recognized as extremist for the storage or distribution of publications that were previously recognized as extremist. The defense, in turn, is trying to prove that the CA does not manage the MRO.

The main problem is that the real and actual state of affairs within the organization and the formal legal side of the issue do not intersect. In any case, legal casuistry and resourcefulness are required in order to legally present the case in a favorable light for the CA. If we were talking about a secular organization and protecting its interests, lawyers could only be praised for their high professionalism and acting. But speech in this case is about a religious organization that positions itself as the most principled and honest in the world. As a result, the lawyers of the organization, as well as the chairman of the CA and his deputy, in my opinion, had to play a trick and change their own principles in order to get the CA and the LRO out of harm's way. White lies - there is no other way to call it. And this lie in the minds of the SI can be justified by the supremacy of the will of God over the laws of Caesar.

However, for the CA SI in the Russian Federation, such tactics of legal resourcefulness are not new. For many years, SO MROs have been building and operating their Kingdom Halls not as places of worship, but as private structures, which are later transferred or purchased by MROs from an individual who is a SO. Such a legal scheme makes it possible to bypass the need for complex coordination of the construction of a religious building.

The defense of the UC and its witnesses made the following theses:

• The UC provides only canonical (spiritual) care to LROs and religious groups (assemblies) only in the form of recommendations.
• LROs and religious groups are completely independent from the CA in decision-making, in particular, in the decision to adopt a charter, create and liquidate LROs.
• The UC is not a source of religious guidance and does not give interpretations of doctrinal issues to members of LROs and religious groups (assemblies). All this comes exclusively from the Governing Body based in the USA.
• The religious beliefs of the SI are based solely on the Bible (and not necessarily in the PNM version!) and do not necessarily require the use of publications from the Watch Tower Society.
• The UC does not coordinate the preaching activities of members of religious groups and their functioning.
• Ordinary Jehovah's Witnesses are not members of any religious organization and act solely on personal initiative and conviction.

People who have been SI even for a short time are well aware and understand how far these statements are from reality. Each of these theses is refuted by internal documentation, publications and daily routine in the organization

The difficulty lies in the fact that in the case of the SI, the canonical care and administrative direction of the CA are so intertwined that it is virtually impossible to separate them. For clarification, here it is necessary to refer to the model of functioning of the SI organization on the principles theocracy - a form of government that implies the combination and inseparability of the spiritual and administrative power of the earthly representatives of God. In other words, from the point of view of the doctrine of the SI themselves, the division here is simply impossible. However, in order to present the case in court from the point of view of the formal letter of the law, one has to forget about theocracy and insist on dividing the leadership carried out by the CA into administrative and canonical.

I cannot give a competent assessment of the legal legitimacy of such a scheme. But it seems to me that there is also a legislative gap that allows making such a division legally legitimate. After all, laws should reflect reality, not hide it. If the SI wins this judgment legally, they have already lost it spiritually. They showed that corporate interests are more important than Christian ideals and personal convictions.

The legal formalism of the SI has a long history. Let me remind you that the second president of the Watch Tower Society was a lawyer - Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who took the presidency and began to exercise undivided power, eliminating the Board of Directors of the corporation by taking advantage of the fact that during the annual corporate meetings there were no formal re-elections of directors, and therefore he was able to remove most of the directors of the Watch Tower Society from their posts without resorting to a general vote (A.H. Macmillan, "Faith on the March." Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1957, pp. 78-80).

- "God's servant".

And then there is the Parable of the Return of the Prodigal Son,
and man already enters the Degree of Sonship.
Those. here - both Man and Nature - Adore!
(by the way - this is the function of spreading the Church,
and her missionary work).

"for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."

While atheists logically follow the denial
both nature and man. And practice has already shown
- the destructive effect of atheism on Nature and Man.
Because in its essence - atheism is the destructive Heresy of Nihilism,
yet at the same time another heresy - belief in the existence of "independent matter".

"We will destroy the whole world to the ground, and then,"
We will build world terror, whoever was nothing will become everything!

What a bright illustration of these two Heresies.

They seem to be declaring materialism, and then
we read the Manifesto of the Communist Party: "a GHOST haunts Europe",
- belief in terry ghosts and fuzzy phantoms.
And also - "Virhi fuzzy fight over us ....", etc.
there - a lot of that, Whirlwinds, Ghosts, and even Hydras.

On the one hand, the God-Man-Nature system, which has been tested for thousands of years, is completely rejected; what is there and it is impossible to cross out something without denying this whole system as a whole. Negative hallucination.
And on the other hand, BELIEF is affirmed in something non-existent and hallucinated, eternal "independent matter", velvety Ghosts and terry Fantomas or Whirlwinds. positive hallucination.

Thus, the fans of the heretical sect of "building atheism" are forced to constantly hallucinate, either a negative hallucination or a positive one. Simply put, cunning scammers - from free people, made dependent and unfree labor zombies, or low-paid golems - without freedom of choice. And by the way, in the same place, Human Rights are almost completely rejected and violated, which is very characteristic and illustrative, even in itself.

Eg. in the Church of the Holy Cats - we believe that cats exist!
And anyone - even just a sane person understands
that "A World Without Cats" is a fiction, a hallucination,
heresy or something virtual reality,
opposed to the reality around us.

Likewise - the world without God, or - without Man, or - without Nature,
there is a type - "matrix" for the zombie population of the plundered colonies.

And the cries and slogans of "atheists"
- like "We are new - a world without cats, let's build ...",
will already be perceived - as obsessively galloping demoniac,
hostile to the reality around us.

"Whoever does not jump, he is for cats!", "To a kitten for a gilyak!"

Learn - the recent history of our country,
and also - these sectarians "turned back the rivers" and "translated time".

It will even be a deviation - from the human norm
- obsessively jumping demoniac,
hostile
the reality around us.

The result of the activity of these sectarians of atheism is deplorable,
Nature suffered greatly, many people,
and even the state itself - from the World Empire,
became - raw "gas station".

And of course - no "bright future",
and no Prosperity and no Enlightenment
- all these sectarian rogues did not build like that.
And where did the Marxist methodology go???
Oh yes - philosophers were also sent away
on "philosophical boats", remember your story.

The point is not even in cats, but in the madness and bestiality of a godless person.
In the denial of the very - the human principle, and human rights and freedoms.

The Ministry of Justice filed an administrative lawsuit with the Supreme Court (SC), in which it asks to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia (head office) as an extremist organization, to ban its activities and liquidate it. The agency alleges that this religious organization violated anti-corruption legislation extremist activity. On March 16, the organization filed an application with the Supreme Court with a request to dismiss the lawsuit, but the court scheduled the hearing for April 5.

On February 8-27, the Russian Ministry of Justice conducted an unscheduled inspection of the "compliance of the activities" of the religious organization "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" with the goals and objectives stated in its charter, Kommersant was told in the press service of the department. Based on the results of the audit, the experts concluded that “the activities of the organization are carried out in violation of the statutory goals and objectives, as well as the current legislation of the Russian Federation, including the federal law “On Counteracting Extremist Activity”.” What exactly the violation consists of was not indicated. On March 15, the Ministry of Justice filed an administrative lawsuit with the Supreme Court to ban its activities in Russia and liquidate the organization.

The website of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia notes that "millions of believers around the world consider the actions of the ministry a big mistake": organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, and will also affect all 2,277 religious groups throughout the country, uniting 175,000 followers of this religion.” The report noted that "extremism is deeply alien to the Bible-based beliefs and morality of Jehovah's Witnesses."

Ivan Belenko, an employee of the press service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses, told Kommersant that on March 2, 2016, the organization received a warning from the Prosecutor General's Office about the inadmissibility of extremist activity: “We, of course, knew that it could be fraught with serious consequences up to a lawsuit. The entire array of accusations against believers of extremist activity boils down to one single fact - the inclusion of several publications of a religious nature by Jehovah's Witnesses in the so-called federal list of extremist materials of the Ministry of Justice. He noted that experts "found extremism", in particular, in the words of Leo Tolstoy quoted in magazines, and in the statements of the Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno.

Mr. Belenko recalled that on this moment eight local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses were liquidated on the relevant charges: “It was on this basis that the Prosecutor General's Office issued a warning to us. We were told that if this happens again within 12 months, a liquidation claim may be filed.”

He noted that an unscheduled inspection of the Ministry of Justice of the administrative center was carried out on behalf of the Prosecutor General's Office.

“In the course of 12 months, there were 46 facts of planting extremist materials in our liturgical buildings throughout Russia,” says Ivan Belenko, a spokesman for the organization.

Ivan Belenko stated that the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia has not yet received any official information about the suit of the Ministry of Justice: “We learned about it from the media. Yesterday we filed an application with the Supreme Court with a request to dismiss this lawsuit due to non-compliance with the rules: the court is already working, and we have not even seen what we are accused of.”

“If the case is not left without progress, then of course we will try to defend ourselves,” he said. “Of course, we will object to the lawsuit, we will insist that we are infinitely far from extremism, and that justice was denied. Of course, we will fight in the courts to the very end.”

Suspended the activities of the parent organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The organization, which represents a religious trend that emerged in the United States in the 19th century, was included in the list of public and religious associations whose activities were suspended due to their extremist activities. A week ago, the Ministry of Justice sent a corresponding lawsuit to the Supreme Court of Russia.

“The court received an administrative claim from the Ministry of Justice of Russia to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia as an extremist organization and to ban its activities on the territory of Russia,” the court representative said.

On April 5, the Supreme Court will make a final decision on the work of the organization in Russia.

In response, the chairman of the center's steering committee issued a video message in which he called the current trial the most difficult time in the life of 175,000 followers of their church.

“They are asking for capital punishment for all three hundred and ninety-six of our organizations! A special point is to confiscate from believers all their prayer houses and other property! If the Ministry of Justice gets its way, believers will face up to 10 years in prison!” the religious leader pointed out.

In October last year, the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in Birobidzhan by a decision of the court of the Jewish Autonomous Region due to the distribution of extremist literature.

“According to a court decision, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Birobidzhan was declared extremist, does not meet the requirements of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, its activities are prohibited on the territory of Russia, it is liquidated with the exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities,” – stated in the official announcement.

At the same time, the official representative of the organization noted that the publications included in the list of extremist materials, because of which this decision, did not belong to Jehovah's Witnesses.

“Evidence has accumulated that law enforcement officers and persons cooperating with them systematically throw printed editions included in federal list extremist materials (FSEM),” the church said in a statement.

Last summer, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court recognized the Witnesses' brochure as extremist material. The proceedings concerned January 2015, when Witnesses were distributing a brochure entitled “How did life appear?” in one of the shopping centers in the city of Serov. In the course of the examinations, the experts found that the publication contains statements aimed at inciting hatred and enmity towards other religions. The representative of the religious organization filed an appeal against this decision, but the court left it without consideration.

The defenders of Jehovah's Witnesses are often members of US diplomatic missions. So,

American diplomats expressed concern about the ban on the Witnesses' activities in Taganrog in 2015.

The embassy then called on the Russian authorities to stop the persecution for religious beliefs, and the press secretary of the American embassy said that in Russia "the state denies the rights of religious minorities."

Jehovah's Witnesses are not the first religious organization whose legality is challenged by the Ministry of Justice. On November 23, 2015, he considered the claim of this ministry for the liquidation of the "Church of Scientology of Moscow" and recognized the organization as not complying with federal law. Scientologists were given six months to shut down. Church followers tried to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court, but the latter upheld the decision of the Moscow City Court.

Close the parent organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. The accusations are old - extremism and other passions-faces," the public figure writes in his blog .

"Jehovah's Witnesses belong to the so-called new religions. Neither the traditional Christian denominations nor the Protestants recognize them as their own. Like the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses included part of the Christian teaching, but then added a lot of their own. The moment that Jehovah's Witnesses are the only from large denominations, who simply took and rewrote the Bible for themselves.This is the so-called New World Translation, in which everything that did not fit into the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses is corny corrected.Well, the doctrinal difference with ordinary Christians among Jehovah's Witnesses is great.

At the same time, everyone admits that Jehovah's Witnesses, perhaps more than all religious movements, preach. Their life is generally pious, they don't drink, they don't smoke, they don't take drugs, they are faithful to their wives and husbands, good fathers and mother."

“Jehovists have problems with the external environment and with the state only on two issues. The first is that they do not accept blood transfusions, because they believe that this is a variant of cannibalism. The second is that they do not engage in politics, do not serve in the army and do not celebrate holidays .

It is easiest to criticize the Jehovists for refusing blood transfusions. But let's be honest - there are thousands of different religions in the world, and many of them with various strange restrictions. Jehovists do not mutilate the body, do not limit themselves and children in food, do not practice monasticism and withdrawal from the world. They work, study, live and preach. Plant them only for their faith - why?

Let me remind you that even during World War II, Hitler failed to break the Jehovah's Witnesses through torture and concentration camps. Many of them died in furnaces and gas chambers, but did not betray their faith, did not take up arms. I don't think the DOJ will be able to scare them if Hitler couldn't. We will get 170,000 (approximately as many Jehovists in Russia) prisoners of conscience, who have sat down only and exclusively for the faith. And maybe some more additional broken destinies.

Christians have a lot of complaints about Jehovah's Witnesses. But these are our "showdowns". Everything can be clarified through preaching, through criticism, through apologetics. Why involve the state? Moreover, someone who, but Jehovah's Witnesses is no longer some kind of dark forest. They have been in the world for many years, they are in almost all countries. Pretty common religion, to be honest. Yes, someone is annoyed that they ring the doorbell. But if we understand that there are former drug addicts and alcoholics among them, who could call at our door for a completely different reason, then it’s better to call the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Because people aspire to righteous life you can't be punished for it.

There is another, rather mean, moment. Because of their faith, Jehovah's Witnesses cannot, in principle, defend themselves politically, since they do not participate in politics. These are not Mormons with their state of Utah, these are not disciples of Christ or Baptists with their presidents at the head of the United States. Jehovists, in principle, have no political force that would protect them. And, of course, those Christian denominations who have such representation and who have their own grudge against this trend like to use this.

I will not speak about other denominations. Maybe if they are banned, people from them will run away. But with Jehovah's Witnesses, we know what will happen. Most of them will not give up their faith. And what - send them to camps? Repeat what the Nazis did?

Think about whether we need to break the lives of 170,000 people."