The leader of Tobolsk Jehovah's Witnesses "incited hatred" right in the hospital

The head of the Tobolsk community of Jehovah's Witnesses is accused of inciting religious hatred and creating a religious association that harms the health of citizens.

On November 15, 2013, the Investigative Department of the ICR for the Tyumen Region reported that the head of the community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tobolsk was charged under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting hatred and enmity) and part 1 of Art. 239 of the Criminal Code (creation of a religious association whose activities involve violence against citizens or other harm to their health). The circumstances of the case are as follows: a resident of Tobolsk, a Jehovah's Witness, got into an accident and was hospitalized in an unconscious state. The leader of the Tobolsk community of the Witnesses tried to obstruct the procedure for a blood transfusion on the basis of a power of attorney in his possession regarding medical intervention, which was signed by the victim. However, a transfusion was carried out; after the fact, the victim and her son agreed to the procedure.

At the same time, the charge under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code, according to the ICR, is as follows: " ... the accused ... acting deliberately and publicly, with the aim of inciting hatred and enmity, humiliating the dignity of a person and a group of persons on the grounds of an attitude to religion, together with persons unidentified by the investigation, distributed extremist literature , and also publicly propagated the superiority of the followers of the dogma of Jehovah's Witnesses over Christianity and Islam, and the inferiority of other religions ."

The description of the case given by the Investigative Committee does not contain any information about its oral or other propaganda in the hospital containing signs of inciting hatred and enmity. Therefore, prosecution under Art. 282 seems to be inappropriate in this case.

Let us recall that we consider the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses for extremism unlawful and perceive it as religious discrimination. In addition, propaganda of the superiority of one's religion over others cannot be considered a sign of extremism, since this is contrary to both legislation and common sense.

Sources

• In Tobolsk, the head of a religious group is accused of inciting hatred and enmity // Website of the TFR for the Tyumen region. November 15, 2013