The chairman of one of the Jehovah's Witnesses organizations is suspected of inciting hatred

The chairman of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization in the city of Maiskoye (Kabardino-Balkaria) is suspected of inciting hatred. The SOVA Information and Analytical Center reported this on August 18, citing a press release from the local investigative department of the Investigative Committee.

According to the investigation, Yuri Zalipaev (in the official report he is not named, but he is the head of the local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses) “in order to incite hatred against Christian church ministers, he instructed parishioners” to distribute extremist literature, despite the fact that the Maisky prosecutor’s office district warned him about the inadmissibility of extremist activities.

This is at least the second case of incitement to hatred brought against a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kabardino-Balkaria. Currently, the Prokhladnensky District Court is considering the case of Arkady Akopyan, who is accused of making a speech in which he humiliated the dignity of representatives of other religions and distributing prohibited religious literature among fellow believers.

Currently, all organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia are included in the list of extremist organizations. In addition, on August 17, the translation of the Bible made by Jehovah's Witnesses was recognized as extremist material, SOVA reports . The court recognized as reasonable the arguments of experts who referred to biblical stories as confirmation that the translation justifies the need to overthrow the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, calls for a violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and incites religious hatred.