The Sunday Mail
Fatima Bulla Religious Affairs Editor
JEHOVAH’S Witnesses of Zimbabwe has petitioned the Russian Federal government through its local embassy to reconsider a probable ban of its operations in the European country, a move which could see the religious organisation being liquidated.
The Russian Supreme Court will on April 5 make a determination on the liquidation claim within the provisions of the Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity.
Jehovah’s Witnesses maintains that the Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity was misapplied on the organisation.
If declared an extremist organisation, it will be an offense to read any publication produced by Jehovah’s Witnesses, to meet in public or private homes, gather in large assemblies or engage in public ministry, to study the Bible including with neighbours.
This follows a claim filed in the Supreme Court on March 15 by Russia’s Ministry of Justice demanding that the headquarters known as the Administrative Centre and all Local Religious Organisations (LROs) be liquidated and deleted from the official state registry.
The Ministry further issued a directive to suspend with immediate effect the activities of the Administrative Centre, 395 entities and all LROs of the Jehovah’s Witness until the Supreme Court makes the final determination.
It went on to request that all property owned by the Administrative Centre and LROs which includes houses of worship be confiscated by the State.
In a letter dated March 24 and addressed to the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jehovah’s Witnesses Superintendent of Ministers in Zimbabwe, Mr John Hama Hunguka appealed for the ministry’s intervention to save their organisation’s branches in Russia.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses are peace loving people who value strong family ties, are devoted to Bible teachings and try hard to live by what they learn from the Bible; they are law abiding citizens who pay their taxes and show respect to government officials though they remain politically neutral as they concentrate on their most important work of preaching the Word of God to others in the community,” he said.
“Being of the same faith and beliefs as our counterparts in Russia, we Jehovah’s Witnesses of Zimbabwe hereby launch our appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Zimbabwe to intervene on this matter…
“As a people who live by Bible principles worldwide, we adhere to Jesus fundamental teachings one of which is love which is not affected by language differences, geographical boundaries, skin colour, or political affiliation. This is in harmony with the words of Jesus recorded at John 13:34-35 which say in part: “By this all will know that you are my disciples-if you have love among yourselves.
“We thank you in advance, dear sir for taking this appeal to the Russian Federation Embassy in Zimbabwe to persuade his office to forward this appeal to his government in Russia,” Mr Hunguka said.
A March 2017 report compiled by the Office of the General Counsel World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses, stated that Russia’s amended Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity of 2006, does not require calls to violent acts, but the vague concept of “incitement of … religious discord.”
It states that although an expert study of the Witnesses’ religious literature commissioned by the Rostov Regional Prosecutor’s Office in 2008 concluded that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not urge hostile action either in their literature or in carrying out their activities, the court focused on the experts’ opinion that theological discussion in the Witnesses’ literature had “the potential to undermine respect” for other religions.
“The court concluded that this ‘undermining (of) respect’ was ‘aimed at inciting religious discord’ and considered it evidence of extremism.
“The Jehovah’s Witnesses respectfully request the Russian Federation to: stop the repression of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, Cease misapplying legislation on extremism to the peaceful worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses, (and) ensure that Jehovah’s Witnesses can peacefully enjoy freedom of religion and assembly without interference as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”
In 1998 the prosecutor of the Northern Administrative District of Moscow filed a civil action to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow and dissolve their Christian Association.
When the decision went in the prosecutor’s favour, Jehovah’s Witnesses applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which on June 10, 2010 unanimously concluded that all the accusations made against the religious organisation were unfounded.
On September 11, 2009 the Rostov Regional Court ruled to declare 34 Witnesses publications extremist and they were eventually placed on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
The court also declared Taganrog LRO extremist and ordered federal authorities to liquidate it, ban its activity, place its name on a list of extremist organisations and confiscate its religious literature as well as its property.
By the start of 2016, similar court actions had declared 88 religious publications extremist, liquidated three LROs and confiscated at least one house of worship.
The Russian Embassy in Harare refused to comment when contacted for a response
