Analysis of the examination of materials of Jehovah's Witnesses

In March 2009, we obtained the text of an examination of a number of materials from the religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses, conducted by S. A. Mochalova, a specialist in the criminalistics laboratory of the regional operational and technical department of the Federal Security Service for the Sverdlovsk region.

The following materials were examined: the brochures "What happens at death?", "What is the meaning of life? How can we find it?", "Jehovah's Witnesses. Who are they? What do they believe?", "What does God require of us?", "Spirits of the Dead. Can They Help or Hurt You?", "Should You Believe in the Trinity? Is Jesus Christ Almighty God?", "All Scripture Is Trustworthy and Beneficial (Matthew Colossians)", Draw Close to Jehovah, Magazines "Wake up!" and Watchtower.

The expert had to answer two questions: are there statements in the texts "aimed at inciting hatred" , and if so, in what language forms they are expressed.

We note right away that such a wording of the question to the expert is in itself unacceptable, since it literally repeats the corresponding article of the Criminal Code, forcing the expert to draw a conclusion that only a judge should actually make.

In addition, the text of the expert's response raises serious doubts about his competence.

The first and most of the text contains extensive quotations from the materials of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Holy Scriptures, the expert's discussions on theological topics. All this illustrates the perfectly fair opinion of the expert that the religious doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses does not coincide with the Orthodox and other Christian doctrines.

In the second part, the expert claims that any material containing negative assessments of a certain group automatically arouses enmity towards it, and also mentions that Jehovah's Witnesses have a negative attitude not only towards other religions, but also towards secular authorities, thereby demonstrating "their exclusivity not only in religious doctrine, but also in relation to the whole world.

In the third, linguistic part of the study, the author gives a semantic and grammatical definition of the concept of "call" and establishes that such are present in large numbers in the materials under study.

The conclusion of the expert is that the answer to the question asked is yes, namely, that the Watchtower and Awake! magazines, pamphlets, and the book Draw Close to Jehovah contain information aimed at inciting religious hatred and humiliating human dignity. on the basis of religion.

In our opinion, the examination is a retelling of obvious facts (any religion considers itself the only true and any religious literature may contain appeals), made from the point of view of a "traditional" Christian, marveling at someone else's ignorance (a point of view that has the right to exist, but is not scientific).

In the meantime, it is on the basis of this expertise that the local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is being persecuted in the Sverdlovsk Region: the investigation of the criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 282 (incitement to hatred, promotion of exclusivity and humiliation of human dignity on the basis of attitude to religion), the prosecutor's office filed a lawsuit to recognize the materials as extremist, and the organization had previously been issued a warning against extremist activity, recently declared illegal.