The Jehovah's Witnesses brochure “Does God Really Care About Us?” has been banned.

The Serov District Court of the Sverdlovsk Region declared the brochure "Does God Really Care About Us?" to be extremist.

On June 16, 2016, from another update of the Federal List of Extremist Materials, it became known that on February 19, 2016, the Serovskiy District Court of the Sverdlovsk Region recognized the brochure of Jehovah's Witnesses "Does God Really Care About Us?" as extremist.

We previously reported that the same court decision banned the Listen to God brochure and the January 2015 issue of Awake magazine with the title story "How Did Life Begin?".

We regard the ban on the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist and the persecution of believers for their distribution as religious discrimination.

In May 2016, the Serov community of Jehovah's Witnesses failed to challenge the legitimacy of the prosecutor's warning against extremist activity, which was issued in October 2015. The reason for the sanction was that in January 2015, eight brochures were confiscated from Jehovah's Witnesses in a local shopping center, the content of which was recognized by an expert as extremist, after which a criminal case was initiated under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting hatred or enmity). In August, during searches, extremist literature was confiscated from thirteen members of the community. In addition, in November 2015, a follower of Jehovah's Witnesses in Serov was fined 2,000 rubles under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (storage of extremist materials for the purpose of mass distribution) after 51 copies of publications included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials were found in her apartment.

Sources

• Federal list of extremist materials // Website of the Ministry of Justice of Russia. 2016. June 17.