Russia to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses, prosecuting non-violent, law-abiding citizens as if they were terrorists
Screen grab of the article on www.jw.org
Just as happened in Nazi Germany, where Jehovah's Witnesses were encouraged to send telegrams to the Hitler government because of the persecution of JWs at that time (as featured in my award-winning documentary film "The Schoolgirl The Nazis and The Purple Triangles"), today, threatened with an imminent ban on their worship in Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses are responding with a direct appeal to Kremlin and Supreme Court officials for relief through a global letter-writing campaign. The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is inviting the over 8,000,000 Witnesses worldwide to participate. More than 170,000 people in Russia are at risk of being criminally prosecuted for reading the Bible together or talking to others about their faith. “Prosecuting non-violent, law-abiding citizens as if they were terrorists is clearly a misapplication of anti-extremist laws. Such prosecution is based on completely false grounds.” states David A. Semonian, a spokesman at the Witnesses’ world headquarters.
Award Winning untold story of World War 2, looking at the Nazi persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses as seen through the eyes of a schoolgirl. Jehovah's Witnesses were among the first prisoners of concentration camps for their refusal to say "Heil Hitler", join the army, or participate in the Nazi way of life.
““In 2006, Russia changed its legal definition of “extremism”, removing the element of violence or hatred but stating the “incitement of….religious discord” as the criteria. This means Jehovah’s Witnesses have the same legal status as Isis.””
“ Prosecuting non-violent, law-abiding citizens as if they were terrorists is clearly a misapplication of anti-extremist laws. Such prosecution is based on completely false grounds. ”
An article on www.independent.co.uk states...
"In 2006, Russia changed its legal definition of “extremism”, removing the element of violence or hatred but stating the “incitement of….religious discord” as the criteria. This means Jehovah’s Witnesses have the same legal status as Isis." In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights found a ruling by a Russian court to ban the organisation "unlawful". See www.jw.org for the latest