Court to Rule on Final Appeal to Shut Down Jehovah's Witnesses

June 14, 2004

Source: Knight Ridder Washington Bureau

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8921557.htm

On June 14, 2004 Knight Ridder Washington Bureau reported, "They don't believe in abortion, homosexuality, blood transfusions or the fires of hell. But some hellish portents are facing the Jehovah's Witnesses in a Moscow courtroom this week. Moscow city prosecutors have been trying to shut down the church for nearly six years, charging that the Witnesses are subversive foreign cultists intent on breaking up Russian families, endangering children and inciting religious discord. A ruling on a final appeal of the case is due Wednesday, and it promises to be a test of Russia's tolerance for an open, pluralistic society. The Kremlin has been widely criticized for its harsh restrictions on independent news media, its manipulation of recent elections and a disregard for human rights in Chechnya. The legal defeat of the Jehovah's Witnesses would be 'worrisome as a precedent that could be used against any religion,' said Lawrence Uzzell, the president of International Religious Freedom Watch. 'The prosecution is an embarrassment to the new democratic Russia and flies in the face of Russia's commitment to religious freedom,' said Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., the chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, a federal agency that monitors progress on rights issues."