Post by ck4829 on Jul 18, 2017 18:06:47 GMT
Russia's Supreme Court has ordered the disbanding of the Jehovah's Witnesses on Russian territory.
The ban came into effect after the court rejected an appeal by the religious group against a ruling in April which declared it to be extremist.
The justice ministry had argued that the group distributed pamphlets which incited hatred against other groups.
The group described the ruling as the end of religious freedom in Russia.
The denomination says it has 175,000 members in Russia - a country where it was persecuted during the Stalin era.
The ruling means that the group's headquarters near St Petersburg and 395 local chapters will close.
It will be required to hand over all its properties, known as Kingdom Halls, to the Russian government.
The group's Russia spokesman, Yaroslav Sivulsky, said that "religious freedom in Russia is over".
"There were no real facts of any extremism on part of Jehovah's Witnesses. It's all about bad literature and intolerance. Now anyone who studies the Bible can be jailed," he said, quoted by Newsweek magazine.
One pamphlet distributed by the group quoted the novelist Leo Tolstoy as describing the doctrine of the Russian Orthodox Church as superstition and sorcery.
Officials have accused the religion of destroying families, propagating hatred and endangering lives. The Church had also joined calls for a ban.
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40635267
The ban came into effect after the court rejected an appeal by the religious group against a ruling in April which declared it to be extremist.
The justice ministry had argued that the group distributed pamphlets which incited hatred against other groups.
The group described the ruling as the end of religious freedom in Russia.
The denomination says it has 175,000 members in Russia - a country where it was persecuted during the Stalin era.
The ruling means that the group's headquarters near St Petersburg and 395 local chapters will close.
It will be required to hand over all its properties, known as Kingdom Halls, to the Russian government.
The group's Russia spokesman, Yaroslav Sivulsky, said that "religious freedom in Russia is over".
"There were no real facts of any extremism on part of Jehovah's Witnesses. It's all about bad literature and intolerance. Now anyone who studies the Bible can be jailed," he said, quoted by Newsweek magazine.
One pamphlet distributed by the group quoted the novelist Leo Tolstoy as describing the doctrine of the Russian Orthodox Church as superstition and sorcery.
Officials have accused the religion of destroying families, propagating hatred and endangering lives. The Church had also joined calls for a ban.
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40635267
