Taganrog case of Jehovah's Witnesses: the beginning of persecution?

We are publishing an article by Ksenia Sergazina on the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Rostov region and published in the Daily Journal on November 19, 2013.

In the Rostov region there are 1% Muslims and 50% Orthodox Christians, a fairly large number of Protestant communities, several Catholic ones, separate groups of Molokans and representatives of ancient Eastern churches (for example, the Armenian and Assyrian Church of the East). At first glance, it may seem that the religious policy of the authorities of the Rostov region does not differ from the all-Russian one.

In 2010, the Orthodox organization World Russian People's Council entered into a cooperation agreement with the Rostov branch of the Russian Lawyers' Association and with the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Rostov Region. In accordance with the law, the return of property for religious purposes is underway: for example, in August 2012, the metropolis received the building of the fashionable clothing lyceum in Rostov-on-Don, as well as a parking lot on the square. Orthodox residents of the Rostov region have repeatedly appealed to the authorities with a demand to cancel events that offend their religious feelings. For example, in September 2012, about 20 believers in Rostov-on-Don contacted the regional prosecutor’s office with a demand to cancel the production of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Rostov Regional Philharmonic. Their statement said that “the opera is a mockery and mockery of Christianity, since it distorts the tenets of the Christian faith and interprets the Gospel texts and events in its own way,” however, the rock opera was not cancelled.

Against the backdrop of regional authorities' support for the Russian Orthodox Church, it is noticeable that the policy towards other religious groups is less tolerant.

The regional authorities, like many residents of the Rostov region, are wary of the Protestant communities in the region. In March 2009, the Public Collegium for Press Complaints considered a complaint from Pentecostals in connection with a June 2008 publication in the newspaper “True What?” (Volgodonsk) articles by Natalya Dubinka “Exodus is not a way out.” According to the authors of the statement, Dubinka’s article contains inaccurate information about the Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith “Exodus” in Volgodonsk, forming in readers “a negative attitude towards the parishioners of this church.” The board came to the conclusion that the article contains signs of so-called hate speech; the author’s approach to the church was recognized as tendentious and contrary to international provisions on freedom of conscience, as well as the Constitution of the Russian Federation. However, the board did not find any signs of purposeful incitement of interreligious hatred in the article.

In June 2010, the authorities of the village of Veshenskaya refused to issue a permit for the construction of a prayer house for the Pentecostals of the Church of Christ the Savior due to “high public outcry on the issue of this construction.” On the eve of the refusal, an appeal was sent to the administration, signed by the local priest and residents of the village with a request to prohibit the construction of a prayer house for the “Pentecostal sect,” which “morally corrupts people and with its teaching distorts Orthodox values, causing a split.”

An employee of the deanery of the Rostov diocese, Vladimir Storchak, as Protestants reported in August 2010, “for more than five years, with impunity, has published materials in the media and the Internet that derogatorily characterize heterodox religious communities of Protestant Christians,” “uses information, not only knowingly not corresponds to reality, but is also openly offensive, using negatively colored language,” his publications “are openly discrediting, defamatory in nature, forming in the reader of the media a persistent negative, hostile attitude towards a certain religious community.” The Council of Heads of Protestant Religious Associations of the Rostov Region appealed to the Department for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation with a request to check Storchak’s anti-sectarian publications.

Police in the Rostov region - as well as throughout Russia - continue to conduct raids and detain Jehovah's Witnesses. Sometimes such detentions are accompanied by beatings of believers (June 10, 2011 in the village of Yegorlykskaya), interrogations of minor children in the absence of their parents (March 4, 2011 inthe village of Leninsky) or disruptions of worship services (April 17, 2011 in the village of Vesely).

On September 11, 2009, the Rostov Regional Court satisfied the request of the prosecutor of the Rostov region to ban the activities and liquidate the community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Taganrog as an extremist organization. 34 brochures of Jehovah's Witnesses, including fundamental ones, were banned by the court as extremist. The decision of the Rostov court in December 2009 was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. At the same time, it is obvious that the ban of the Taganrog community is unlawful, since the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses was banned not for extremism, but for religious activities and beliefs - essentially for the fact that their religion is different from others, for postulating the exclusivity and correctness of their faith, that characteristic of representatives of any religion.

Persecution of believers began in Taganrog. Massive searches took place at Jehovah's Witnesses. In August 2011, a criminal case was opened against 16 members of the Taganrog community under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of the activities of a public or religious association in respect of which a court decision on liquidation has entered into force in connection with the implementation of extremist activities). According to investigators, one of the members of the community is considered the organizer of a “sustainable organized extremist group” and is accused of 10 criminal counts: organizing and holding prayer meetings of the Taganrog group of Jehovah’s Witnesses from April 30 to August 15 and studying Witnesses’ literature recognized as extremist at them, involving two minor citizens in the activities of the community, “knowingly knowing that the activities carried out by him and other persons are illegal, recognized by the court as extremist and prohibited.”

Human rights activists appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to protect the constitutional right of Jehovah’s Witnesses “to freedom of religion and equality of religious associations before the law and to drop charges in this criminal case,” appealing to the fact that anti-extremist legislation is once again being used unlawfully - essentially for that believers have not abandoned their faith. However, the criminal case continued to progress.

In April 2013, the materials were sent to the Taganrog City Court. That is, Taganrog Jehovah's Witnesses face criminal liability for participation in religious life, which is considered a legal human right not only throughout the world, but throughout Russia (except for Taganrog).

To date, the volume of the case is more than 60 volumes. Over the past three months, the prosecutor's office has been presenting its arguments to the court, after which the defense will come forward with evidence of innocence, which intends to seek an acquittal and rehabilitation for all defendants (the start of the next hearing is scheduled for November 25).

Meanwhile, without waiting for the outcome of this process, on October 28, the investigative authorities of Rostov-on-Don declared five more believers accused under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The charges are identical to those brought in the “case of 16.” The guilt of Jehovah's Witnesses, according to investigators, is that while living in Taganrog, these citizens did not renounce their religious beliefs after the decision of the Rostov Regional Court in 2009 came into force, but continued to meet and study the Bible together. All five defendants are prohibited from traveling outside the city without permission. Among the accused are a retired couple, Vladimir and Svetlana Chesnokov. Vladimir Chesnokov was already persecuted for his religious beliefs during the years of Soviet power.

There is every reason to consider the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, a peaceful community that preaches the ideas of pacifism, for extremism as a high-profile criminal case. We see that Russia has developed a special mechanism for combating dissent, including religious dissent. Russian courts recognize religious texts by Muslims, Scientologists, and Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist, and quoting them, using them for religious purposes, even storing them is equated to participation in an extremist organization (which is contrary to the letter of the law).

Unfortunately, a direct consequence of such a fight against dissent is an increase in aggression among the population. It can be stated that in 2013, the number of hate-motivated attacks targeting members of persecuted religious organizations increased. Thus, most of the victims of attacks in the period from January to November 2013 were believers - Muslims (31 victims), Jehovah's Witnesses (13 victims), Pentecostals (3 victims), Orthodox Christians (2 victims). Five of them were subjected to death threats, the rest were beaten by citizens or police and FSB officers (in the case of 30 Moscow Muslims and some Jehovah's Witnesses). Jehovah's Witnesses suffered in Moscow, the Moscow region, Lukhovitsy, Omsk, Yoshkar-Ola, and in the Voronezh, Chelyabinsk, and Kirov regions. Most suffered from attacks by local residents dissatisfied with the preaching of Jehovah's Witnesses.

This trend - increasing aggression among citizens towards members of religious groups persecuted in the country - cannot be ignored. The scale of it can be imagined by looking back - to the persecution of Soviet times and the persecution of believers in the USSR. In modern Russia, certain religious groups are persecuted, but this does not make the violation of freedom of conscience any more acceptable.

Sources

• Sergazina K. Taganrog case of Jehovah's Witnesses: the beginning of persecution? // Daily log. 2013. November 19.