Jehovah's Witnesses, considered "extremist' by the Russian authorities

At 11 o'clock, on July 16, 2008, the FSB searched a Jehovah's Witnesses' house of faith in Yekaterinburg, in the Sverdlovsk region. 18 believers who now face criminal charges were detained while preparing for the service, and were denied the use of cell phones so that it was impossible for them to contact their relatives or their lawyers. All biblical literature was confiscated from the church.

The legal basis for the FSB action was the case built up against the organization on the charge that their publications contained signs of extremism. On June 10 this year, four days after an initial warning, the District Attorney's Office filed its request to the regional law court to acknowledge as extremist the periodicals and pamphlets distributed in the city by the Jehovah's Witnesses. Prosecutor Vadim Chukreev explained then: :During the investigation of the printed materials, which had titles like "Watch Tower', "Wake Up!', or "Drawing near to Jehovah', it was established that their pages contained criticism of traditional religions and of Christianity in particular, and that the texts emphasized the uniqueness and sole-truthfulness of the organization's dogma;.

The literature published by the organization is well-known in many countries and is available in many large libraries across the world. In Russia, the publications passed the official examination carried out by the Ministry of Justice after the adoption of the federal law :on the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations;.

On January 11, 2007 the European Court for Human Rights delivered its verdict on the :Kuznetsov et al against the Russian Federation;, condemning the disruption of the religious gatherings of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization in Chelyabinsk. This verdict is an important precedent for the current case against the Yekaterinburg organization, since back then the government acknowledged the decision and agreed to pay a compensation for moral damages and judicial expenses.

In 2004 as well, this time in Moscow, the Jehovah's Witnesses caught the attention of the prosecutors. After almost 6 years of investigation, the wish of the prosecutors was satisfied and the Moscow community of Jehovah's Witnesses was dismantled. The attorneys had explained then that the organization :stimulates religious dissention and destroys families, and also drives people to refusing medical care for religious reasons.;