Jehovah Witness governing body appeals against ban in Russia

By Benjamin Mensah, GNA Accra, March 26, GNA - The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses is inviting the over eight million (8,000,000) Witnesses worldwide to participate in a global letter-writing campaign to the Kremlin and Russia Supreme Court officials as a ban on their worship looms in Russia.

'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,' says jw.org, the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Mr Nathanael Gbedemah, Media Contact of Jehovah's Witness in Ghana, in a telephone interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) confirmed the report and appealed to all Witnesses in Ghana and Media Houses to visit the website for more information on matter; and participate fully in the campaign.

According to the website, Russia's Ministry of Justice on March 15, 2017, filed a claim with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to label the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia as extremist and liquidate it.

The claim also seeks to ban the activities of the Administrative Centre. If the Supreme Court upholds this claim, the Witnesses' national headquarters near St. Petersburg will be shut down. Subsequently, some 400 registered Local Religious Organisations would be liquidated, outlawing the services of over 2,300 congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

The branch property, as well as places of worship used by Witnesses throughout the country, could be seized by the State. Additionally, individual Jehovah's Witnesses would become subject to criminal prosecution for merely carrying out their worship activities. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the claim on April 5.

Mr David A. Semonian, a spokesman at the Witnesses' world headquarters said: 'The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses wants to heighten attention to this critical situation,

'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.'

The Witnesses' global campaign is not without precedent. Nearly 20 years ago, Witnesses wrote to defend their fellow worshippers in Russia in response to a smear campaign by some members of the government in power at the time.

Additionally, Witnesses have initiated past letter-writing campaigns to motivate government officials to end persecution of Witnesses in other countries, including Jordan, Korea, and Malawi.

'Reading the Bible, singing, and praying with fellow worshippers is clearly not criminal,' Mr Samuelson explained, and added: 'We hope that our global letter-writing campaign will motivate Russian officials to stop this unjustifiable action against our fellow worshippers.'

GNA