German citizen fined for carrying banned Jehovah's Witnesses brochure

At the customs post in Barnaul, the book "Humanity in Search of God" was confiscated.

On August 30, 2021, it became known that in the Altai Territory there was fined one thousand rubles under Art. 16.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on non-compliance with customs prohibitions and restrictions, a German citizen.

Reason for administrative prosecution was the fact that the employees of the Barnaul customs post of the Altai customs was found among the personal belongings of a German citizen, whose import to Russia she arranged in connection with her move from Germany to permanent place of residence, Jehovah's Witnesses brochure "Mankind in search for God", recognized as an extremist decision Rostov Regional Court in 2009. According to the woman, she bought the book in Germany and did not assume that it was banned in Russia; book has been removed customs officers and must be destroyed.

Recall that we believe recognition of numerous publications of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist materials unlawful and regard it as a manifestation of religious discrimination. Respectively, in our opinion, punishment for attempts to import them into Russia is also unlawful.

Sources

• Altai customs officers detained a book with extremist content // Siberian Customs Administration. 2021. August 30.