Jehovah's Witnesses demanded that the Justice Ministry's decision be recognized as political repression. The Ministry of Justice announced the possibility of criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses "Such cases were reported in the media"

“Let your word be: yes, yes; no no; but what is more than this is from the evil one.”

(Gospel of Matthew 5:37)

On April 12, 2017, the court session of the Supreme Court continued on the claim of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on the liquidation of the Religious Organization "Administrative Center (AC) of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and several hundred local religious organizations (LROs). Today's meeting was, of course, unique due to the fact that for the first time in the history of the confrontation between the SoI and government agencies, former members of the Soi organization with many years of experience acted as witnesses in the case. They expressed a desire to testify as people whose rights and freedoms, in their opinion, were violated by the organization.

The situation was more than piquant, because about 200 Jehovah's Witnesses present at the meeting were forced to listen to the testimony of four former fellow believers, who showed the other side of the internal life of the organization. As you know, Jehovah's Witnesses are strictly forbidden to communicate with the so-called apostates - former members of the organization who are active in anti-witness activities. One of these witnesses in the case was a woman who became a member of the organization back in 1983! She was expelled from the organization for hanging out with a friend who had previously been expelled from the community.

I have never had the opportunity to attend such meetings before. And I specifically decided to visit it to see everything with my own eyes. What struck me about this meeting? First of all, by the way the argumentation of the defense of the CA was built. It is worth saying that all lawyers representing the interests of the UC are convinced Jehovah's Witnesses and employees of the UC itself. Among them were elders. No less curious were the testimonies of the defense witnesses. As such, four members of the organization were invited - people involved in science and having high scientific degrees.

I will not bore readers with the legal side of the case and the course of the entire trial. I will only point out the most important things. The prosecution, represented by representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, aims to prove the direct connection and implementation of the leadership of the MRO SI in the field from the CA. This is necessary in order to prosecute the CA for the leadership of the LROs that were recognized as extremist for the storage or distribution of publications that were previously recognized as extremist. The defense, in turn, is trying to prove that the CA does not manage the MRO.

The main problem is that the real and actual state of affairs within the organization and the formal legal side of the issue do not intersect. In any case, legal casuistry and resourcefulness are required in order to legally present the case in a favorable light for the CA. If we were talking about a secular organization and protecting its interests, lawyers could only be praised for their high professionalism and acting. But in this case we are talking about a religious organization that positions itself as the most principled and honest in the world. As a result, the lawyers of the organization, as well as the chairman of the CA and his deputy, in my opinion, had to play a trick and change their own principles in order to get the CA and the LRO out of harm's way. White lies - there is no other way to call it. And this lie in the minds of the SI can be justified by the supremacy of the will of God over the laws of Caesar.

However, for the CA SI in the Russian Federation, such tactics of legal resourcefulness are not new. For many years, SO MROs have been building and operating their Kingdom Halls not as places of worship, but as private structures, which are later transferred or purchased by MROs from an individual who is a SO. Such a legal scheme makes it possible to circumvent the need for complex coordination of the construction of a religious building.

The defense of the UC and its witnesses made the following theses:

• The UC provides only canonical (spiritual) care to LROs and religious groups (assemblies) only in the form of recommendations.
• LROs and religious groups are completely independent from the CA in decision-making, in particular, in the decision to adopt a charter, create and liquidate LROs.
• The UC is not a source of religious guidance and does not give interpretations of doctrinal issues to members of LROs and religious groups (assemblies). All this comes exclusively from the Governing Body based in the USA.
• The religious beliefs of the SI are based solely on the Bible (and not necessarily in the PNM version!) and do not necessarily require the use of publications from the Watch Tower Society.
• The UC does not coordinate the preaching activities of members of religious groups and their functioning.
• Ordinary Jehovah's Witnesses are not members of any religious organization and act solely on personal initiative and conviction.

People who have been SI even for a short time know and understand how far these statements are from reality. Each of these theses is refuted by internal documentation, publications and daily routine in the organization

The difficulty lies in the fact that in the case of the SI, the canonical care and the administrative direction carried out by the CA are so intertwined that it is virtually impossible to separate them. For clarification, here it is necessary to refer to the model of functioning of the SI organization on the principles theocracy - a form of government that implies the combination and inseparability of the spiritual and administrative power of the earthly representatives of God. In other words, from the point of view of the doctrine of the SI themselves, the division here is simply impossible. However, in order to present the case in court from the point of view of the formal letter of the law, one has to forget about theocracy and insist on dividing the leadership carried out by the CA into administrative and canonical.

I cannot give a competent assessment of the legal legitimacy of such a scheme. But it seems to me that there is also a legislative gap that allows making such a division legally legitimate. After all, laws should reflect reality, not hide it. If the SI wins this judgment legally, they have already lost it spiritually. They showed that corporate interests are more important than Christian ideals and personal convictions.

The legal formalism of the SI has a long history. Let me remind you that the second president of the Watch Tower Society was a lawyer - Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who took the presidency and began to exercise undivided power, eliminating the Board of Directors of the corporation by taking advantage of the fact that during the annual corporate meetings there were no formal re-elections of directors, and therefore, he was able to remove most of the directors of the Watch Tower Society from their posts without resorting to a general vote (A.H. Macmillan, "Faith on the March." Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1957, pp. 78-80).

MOSCOW, April 21 - RIA Novosti, Anton Skripunov."This verdict could be the first step towards a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in all territories of the Russian Federation," the media wrote in 2011. The Kogalym World Court convicted Natalia Podlozhevich for forbidding doctors to transfuse blood to her 5-year-old son. Doctors tried to save Seryozha Podlozhevich, but they did not have the authority to do so.

The headlines were prophetic. Six years later, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the activities of the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" as extremist and banned its work. The Center of Jehovah's Witnesses can appeal this decision to the appellate instance; if a complaint is filed, the decision to ban the organization will not yet enter into force.

If the court decision comes into force, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses may be held liable for extremism under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "participation in the activities of a religious association in respect of which a court has made a decision that has entered into legal force to liquidate or ban activities in connection with carrying out extremist activities." Thus, adherents of "Jehovah's Witnesses" may face imprisonment for a term of two to six years.

Together with the head center, 395 organizations included in its structure are being liquidated. Of these, eight departments were prosecuted for extremism. Jehovah's Witnesses note that the court's decision directly affects about 400 registered local religious organizations in Russia, and also applies to all 2,277 religious groups throughout the country, uniting 175,000 followers of this religious movement.

During the trial, it became known that the Ministry of Justice, in particular, charged the Jehovah's Witnesses with refusing blood transfusions. The agency is also convinced that the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses pose a threat to the protection of the rights and interests of society and public safety. According to the decision of the Russian courts, 95 brochures of the organization were recognized as extremist.

bloody taboo

The story of Serezha Podlozhevich was not the only one widely discussed in the media. In 2010, doctors fought both in court and on the operating table for the life of 10-year-old Vanya Orlukovich from Moscow. He was hit by a car, a blood transfusion was required, but the child's mother categorically refused to give consent to the operation. The doctors still won the right to transfuse the boy's blood, but, alas, such precious time in such cases was lost.

“I think that he died not because of this, but because of a severe head injury. It is unlikely that they could have saved him,” Lyudmila Orlukovich said then.

Jehovah's Witnesses are convinced that the "clear command" not to transfuse blood is found in the Bible. As an argument, they cite, for example, the following quotation from the Old Testament book of Genesis: "Only the flesh with its soul, with its blood, do not eat."

It turns out that Jehovah's Witnesses did not always have a ban on blood transfusions. In 1945, they only began to condemn him, although 20 years earlier everything was the opposite - blood transfusion was encouraged by the leadership of the organization. It was not until 1961 that donation became taboo. For this, the adherent of Jehovah's Witnesses is threatened with expulsion from the sect.

"If a citizen refuses a medical procedure of his own free will, then this is one thing. And if an organization forbids (in this case, this), then this is another. The situation is especially terrible when it comes to children, because it is obvious that the sect makes the choice for him The price for this is the life of a child," Alexander Dvorkin, president of the Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and Sects (RATSIRS), a member of the expert council for conducting state religious expertise under the Ministry of Justice, explained to RIA Novosti.

What is extremism

According to sectologist Dvorkin, "Jehovah's Witnesses have a ban on voting and being elected. "There is also a ban on serving in the army, a ban on celebrating all holidays - state, personal, public, religious, etc. - a ban on saluting the anthem and flag of their country," he added.

The state, as Dvorkin noted, does not have the right to determine how and what to believe; this is not within the scope of its duties. In the case of the court decision, this is not about a ban on faith, as the Jehovists themselves say, but about the status of a religious organization. "In other words, can there be an organization in a country that does not actually recognize its constitutional system. In any case, should such an organization receive a privileged tax-free status?" the expert asks.

In turn, Roman Silantyev, a member of the expert council for conducting state religious studies under the Ministry of Justice, notes that there were cases when adherents of the sect not only did not vote themselves, "but also went door-to-door on election day and dissuaded them from voting." In addition, the organization, in his opinion, is very aggressive towards representatives of other religious movements.

“Extremist activity can be of two types: directed outward and inward. A destructive organization can mock its own members and call for hostile actions against other people. Jehovah’s Witnesses had both types of such activity,” Silantiev believes.

Litigation is not over

Almost immediately after the verdict, representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses announced that they wanted to appeal the court decision. During the process, the organization's lawyers argued that, for example, refusing blood transfusions is not extremism - there is no such act in the law on countering extremist activities. The believers have already begun to prepare an appeal, which should be considered by the Presidium of the RF Armed Forces within a month. But the next stage after it is well known.

“If they lose in the Presidium of the Supreme Court, then they go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and there they almost certainly win, because the grounds for the ban are simply insignificant,” believes a member of the President’s Council for the Development of Civil Society and Rights person, director of the Information and Analytical Center "Sova" Alexander Verkhovsky.

According to the expert, the bans of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were issued on the following basis: "Jehovah's Witnesses" in their doctrine, in their sermons, in their texts claim that their faith is the best, it is correct, and the rest are wrong. If this is translated into the language of Russian legislation, then it turns out that we are talking about the proclamation of religious superiority, and this is a direct path to inter-religious hatred.

Suspended the activities of the parent organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The organization, which represents a religious trend that emerged in the United States in the 19th century, was included in the list of public and religious associations whose activities were suspended due to their extremist activities. A week ago, the Ministry of Justice sent a corresponding lawsuit to the Supreme Court of Russia.

“The court received an administrative claim from the Ministry of Justice of Russia to recognize the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia as an extremist organization and to ban its activities on the territory of Russia,” the court representative said.

On April 5, the Supreme Court will make a final decision on the work of the organization in Russia.

In response, the chairman of the center's steering committee issued a video message in which he called the current trial the most difficult time in the life of 175,000 followers of their church.

“They are asking for capital punishment for all three hundred and ninety-six of our organizations! A special point is to confiscate from believers all their prayer houses and other property! If the Ministry of Justice gets its way, believers will face up to 10 years in prison!” the religious leader pointed out.

In October last year, the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in Birobidzhan by a decision of the court of the Jewish Autonomous Region due to the distribution of extremist literature.

“According to a court decision, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Birobidzhan was declared extremist, does not meet the requirements of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, its activities are prohibited on the territory of Russia, it is liquidated with the exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities,” – stated in the official announcement.

At the same time, the official representative of the organization noted that the publications included in the list of extremist materials, because of which this decision was made, did not belong to Jehovah's Witnesses.

“Evidence has accumulated that law enforcement officers and persons cooperating with them systematically plant printed publications included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials (FSEM) at worship services,” the church said in a statement.

Last summer, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court recognized the Witnesses' brochure as extremist material. The proceedings concerned January 2015, when Witnesses were distributing a brochure entitled “How did life appear?” in one of the shopping centers in the city of Serov. In the course of the examinations, the experts found that the publication contains statements aimed at inciting hatred and enmity towards other religions. The representative of the religious organization filed an appeal against this decision, but the court left it without consideration.

The defenders of Jehovah's Witnesses are often members of US diplomatic missions. So,

American diplomats expressed concern about the ban on the Witnesses' activities in Taganrog in 2015.

The embassy then called on the Russian authorities to stop the persecution for religious beliefs, and the press secretary of the American embassy said that in Russia "the state denies the rights of religious minorities."

Jehovah's Witnesses are not the first religious organization whose legality is challenged by the Ministry of Justice. On November 23, 2015, he considered the claim of this ministry for the liquidation of the "Church of Scientology of Moscow" and recognized the organization as not complying with federal law. Scientologists were given six months to shut down. Church followers tried to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court, but the latter upheld the decision of the Moscow City Court.

Yesterday there was a program on the 5th channel from the cycle "The main thing with Nika Strizhak" 04/02/2017. Another attack on the SI before April 5 and the session of the Supreme Court on the complete ban on the SI in the Russian Federation on falsified "evidence".

But I invite all readers to study on the example of one character who appeared in this plot of the 5th channel - a certain Anton Androsov. I think that some SI know him, especially in Belgorod and nearby cities, but it seems to me that we need to show him to the public. And not only him. Because in connection with this "activist", who is about 23-24 years old, a lot of interesting questions arise about the authorities, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ministry of Justice and the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses.

So, I will start my little "investigation" with the fact that this Anton Androsov, together with 5 other co-founders, registered the organization "BELGOROD REGIONAL PUBLIC ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRACY AND SOLVING SOCIAL PROBLEMS "FAST YOUTH AID". According to the data on the website "The organization is registered On July 17, 2013 the registrar of the Office of the Federal Tax Service for the Belgorod Region. The chairman of the organization is Androsov Anton Alexandrovich.

But for some reason, quite recently, the organization ceased to exist in the form of this legal entity. On the same site we see:

"The founders are 6 individuals.

Organization of the Belgorod Regional Public Organization for the Promotion of Democracy and Solving Social Problems "Ambulance Youth Assistance" was liquidated on January 11, 2017. The reason: the termination of the legal entity due to the exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on the basis of clause 21.1 of the Federal Law of 08.08.2001 No. 129-FZ.

The last entry in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities was made on January 11, 2017, reason: Exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities of a legal entity that actually ceased its activities.

Why so, you ask? The organization existed as this legal entity for only 3.5 years. Or was it created temporarily for specific purposes?

In a report on Channel 5, it was said that it was this organization from Belgorod that came "upstairs" with an "initiative" to ban SI.

Well, now let's look at this "activist" Anton Androsov and where this very "initiative" came from.

In LiveJournal, he has a journal, which he abandoned at the end of June 2013, and a new organization (mentioned above) appeared just 3 weeks later.

In the profile of this Androsov, it is indicated that he is an "activist of the NASHI 2.0 movement" (pro-Kremlin movement).

In general, this nondescript thin young man told a lot about himself on the network, and he himself. He loves to promote himself so much that now we will learn a lot of interesting things about him and about who directed him and what he “breathes” in general, so to speak.

We noticed: "THE MEETING WAS HELD... UNDER THE PRESIDENCE OF THE METROPOLITAN". "THE MAIN OUTCOME OF THE ACTIVITIES WAS THE PROMOTION OF INITIATIVES TO THE FEDERAL LEVEL"?

Or this one - about the "blessing" of the work plan from the "lord" for 2017 (read, "AGREED" and "APPROVAL").

The inscription next to the photo: "androsovsmp Every year our interaction with the Belgorod Metropolis is getting closer and more trusting. A lot of work has been done, but there is still more to be done. Vladyka John blessed our work plan for 2017. We will work together on many issues. We are saving people , saving children. This is our mission. #SMP #ROC"

Here's another photo.

The inscription next to the photo: "49 weeks.

Androsovsmp Your Eminence! What or who, in your opinion, is now the biggest threat to Belgorod residents? #Question to the Metropolitan "

And here is Androsov in the photo from the meeting of the Metropolia.

He decorated his body with a cross, wings with an eye in the center.

From a certain time, someone pushed this "activist" even to the very top, now he periodically communicates with various "necessary" deputies and officials, coordinating actions and receiving their instructions and various kinds of "support. Sometimes he flies by plane to Moscow. In general , the boy clearly leads a cheerful life, judging by the photo, he does not live in poverty at all and aims to take a place in politics.

He likes to show in the photo that he is in the Duma, at any opportunity he takes a picture with various officials and publishes it for PR.

Do you recognize? Who are the people in the photo with him? Biker "Surgeon" and Nikolay Valuev (member of EdRa).

And here is a photo of Anton Androsov with Dvorkin.

Androsov and Mutko.

Androsov and Onishchenko.

The inscription next to the photo: "24 weeks.

androsovsmp In the meantime, I became the first guest of Sergei Andreevich in the State Duma)"

And here's more:

And here is Zhirinovsky right there.

Caption for this photo: "14 weeks.

Androsovsmp It's time for me to open the rubric "Photos from VVZh". But seriously, Vladimir Volfovich promised to support the NSR from the State Duma and said that we are great and are doing the right things. #Zhirinovsky #SMP "

But Androsov with an ardent Orthodox deputy Milonov, also from EdRa.

Photo caption: "androsovsmp Today we worked all day in the State Duma. The day after tomorrow I will speak at a hearing on the issue of abortion. We will promote the initiative of the patriarch. #Moscow #ROC #SMP #life #patriarch"

We noticed: "WE WILL PROMOTE THE PATRIARCH'S INITIATIVE." You see, Russia is a "secular state", supposedly. There is someone here to "promote Orthodox delusional initiatives." They want to ban abortions or take them outside of the Compulsory Health Insurance (CMI). They think that they will give birth more or that the nation will be healthier. Well, again, they will save money for the "budget" and "for stealing".

But he posted a photo about the "Expert Council on Education", which will decide how to "educate" patriots for everyone.

Androsovsmp January 17, 2017 In the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, an introductory meeting of the Expert Council on Education under the State Duma Committee on Education and Science was held. This is the first meeting of the Council. created at the end of last year. The main goal of the work of the Expert Council is to create an effective system for educating a citizen and patriot of Russia. Working groups were approved and preparations began for Parliamentary hearings to be held in the State Duma on February 14, 2017 on the topic "The Immortal Regiment of Russia: Patriotic Education". Recall that the Chairman of the Public Organization "Ambulance Youth Aid" Anton Androsov joined the Expert Council.

The meeting of the Expert Council was attended by Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Nikolai Georgievich Zemtsov, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Secretary of the Minister Zubov Igor Nikolayevich, Deputy Head of the Department for Work with Personnel of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation Yakunin Vladimir Mikhailovich, Director of the Department of State Policy in the education of children and youth of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation Mikheev Igor Anatolyevich and others.

This, as I understand it, is a pass to the Duma (Androsov posted a "crust" to brag).

And who guided and advised on legal issues (probably about the ban on SI for "extremism"?)

We look:

The caption next to the photo: "androsovsmp The first meeting took place. We discussed with the co-chairman of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, the head of the forum "Alexandrova Gora" Igor Vladimirovich Redkin, the interaction of the Association and "Ambulance Youth Aid", a forum and joint work in the field of legislative initiatives."

Here, it turns out, who helped to deal with "extremism" with the help of falsifications. "Association of Lawyers of Russia", together with the Ministry of Justice and other law enforcement agencies.

But he boasts that he received a letter from Moscow, which says "ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION" and "government" - the inscription next to it "Delivered with security."

Androsovsmp Exactly one year ago, on December 8, 2015, "Ambulance Youth Help" presented the federal project "Youth Antisectarian Center" in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The goal of the project is to unite sectarians throughout the country to counteract sects and destructive cults. The project has been active. In 40 regions of Russia, young people began to resist the destructive factor, sects. Dozens of administrative cases, mass events, closures, warnings against extremist activities and much more."

As I understand it, our valiant government has decided: than the young people will demand REALLY social and political changes (which do not exist) - we will direct them to "let off steam" and be distracted by ... "the fight against terrible sectarian evil." Let them be distracted, busy, let them "fight" themselves. We will even support this, somewhere we will give money to such Androsovs and his "activists". The main thing is that no one should look at real major problems.

But Androsov announced a program on Instagram, where he was going to light up with a performance.

Caption: "2 days.

Androsovsmp Witnesses of God or dangerous extremists? What are dangerous foreign Jehovah's Witnesses doing in Russia? How many followers they have, and why, instead of saving the souls of believers, they rob them to the skin. And who do they really serve so passionately? You can find out the answers to these questions on 04/02/2017, Sunday, at 18:00 on Channel Five.

But he spoke about the lawsuit of the Ministry of Justice to ban the SI in the Russian Federation:

Androsovsmp Finally! A lawsuit was filed with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to liquidate the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

Information appeared on the website of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation that the Ministry of Justice of Russia filed a lawsuit to recognize the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" as an extremist organization, liquidate and ban its activities.

Jehovists immediately began sending out to the media that they were white and fluffy, that they had been slandered, and that extremism was deeply alien to them. As the chairman of the Organization, which worked in the direction of countering this sect in the Belgorod region (in Belgorod and Stary Oskol, the organization has already been recognized as extremist and liquidated), I want to speak out:

1) Several dozen magazines of Jehovah's Witnesses have been recognized as extremist. It's not just 1-2 experts who made a decision - it's a lot of experts, at different times and in different places. The spread of extremist literature is the spread of extremism.

2) A ban on blood transfusions for yourself and your children. Even if the doctor says that ONLY a blood transfusion will save, they will still refuse. Every Jehovist is a potential suicide bomber who carries with him a refusal of a blood transfusion.

3) A ban on military service (they choose an alternative service, thanks to which they get to hospitals and nursing homes and where potential adherents are processed) and a ban on taking part in elections. Let's imagine that if tomorrow 51% of the country becomes Jehovah's Witnesses, this means abandoning the army and the state. This is their ideology. Imagine a country without an army and a state.

4) Violation of the convention on the rights of the child - Jehovists forbid children to celebrate secular holidays. I know cases when parents beat children for celebrating their birthday.

You can list a dozen more reasons to eliminate the American sect on the territory of the Russian Federation. AMERICANS are doing everything so that we are divided, so that traditional confessions are broken - and these are our traditions, on which we exist and live. I know a hundred more cases when the Jehovists violated the law, sacrificed themselves or their loved ones. I'm for a ban!!!"

It's interesting, but people like this Anton Androsov don't give a damn about 1. Freedom of speech and religion. 2. On legality in the Russian Federation. 3. On people who fall under the ban. 4. To people who are connected with those who will be banned (relatives and friends of the SI). 5. To the fact that the prohibition of the SI will do more harm than good and that there are other ways in which one can fight the destructiveness of such a sect.

Such Androsovs do not care about all this. Because his career is important to him. He needs to work out his rations, his "buns" from the authorities. He is already asleep and sees how to get into the Duma without soap, apparently, he kisses the hands not only of the "masters", but also of everyone he can reach upstairs.

In general, the guy is clearly preparing. Here is such a "rest", apparently, with other activists and activists. So what? Bath girls...

But they clearly did not share something with the organizers in Orel.

As far as I understand, the ROC is just moving such "lobbyists" and supporters into power now. Intolerant in others, careerists, ready to bend to any demand. So we have a new USSR with "Orthodox commissars" just around the corner.

And to make it even clearer how rude and impudent this careerist activist is, I suggest watching two videos with his participation.

And here are the results of the actions of such "activists" - jerks, together with their leaders, priests, deputies:

“It is generally accepted that the state protects its citizens. That is why law enforcement agencies exist. But sometimes the opposite happens: government officials attack citizens, taking advantage of their defenselessness before the state machine, and in addition deprive them of any means for legal protection, when both judicial and supervisory authorities, and the laws themselves simply stop working.The story that unfolds in Arkhangelsk is one of many examples, but it eloquently shows the depth of those practices that some officials do not disdain today.

It began on April 3, 2015, when several FSB officers came to search the building of the local community of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is officially registered with the Department of Justice and does not violate any law. Having shown the search warrant signed by Major General of the FSB Tataurov V.F., they immediately, in front of the astonished believers, under video recording, carried out - according to the believers themselves - tossing "extremist" literature into the bookcase. Even witnesses at the same time tried to do everything possible to hide the moment of the tossing from the believers. At the same time, the head of the local religious organization (LRO), Alexander Parygin, as well as his wife, had their phones blocked, so that they could not call anyone and no one could call them.

We wrote "extremist" in quotation marks, because the authorities see all the "extremism" of Jehovah's Witnesses only in the fact that they consider their religion to be right - as if there is a religion that considers itself wrong. And note how crafty this tactic is used: first, some literature is declared “extremist” for calling a certain religion correct, and then this same literature is thrown at believers in order to incriminate them with its possession and then delegalize their religion, turning them, in fact , into criminals. This has already happened in Taganrog, where people are officially, by a court decision, denied the right to believe in God according to their conscience and beliefs.

In the Arkhangelsk liturgical building, unexpectedly, right in the cupboard with literature, 11 brochures were “found” that were included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials, although believers carefully monitor that there is no such literature in the building. The video shows how one of the employees approaches the closet, takes something out of his pocket, then quickly takes a pack of literature from the closet and, without even searching it, says to witnesses: “Attention, look!” When later the court asks this employee what he was doing at the bookcase and why he was rummaging through his pockets, he will innocently answer: “I checked if the certificate was in place.”

A few months later, on December 16, another throw was carried out - this time in the car to Alexander Parygin. Law enforcement officers again resorted to a staged search, which is carried out with only one purpose - to “find” literature, which they themselves planted. At the same time, his rights were grossly violated: he was forbidden to call his lawyer and his wife, his phone was tapped, his personal belongings, including computers, were confiscated and never returned.

During a staged search in Parygin's car, a bundle of 31 brochures was unexpectedly "found" in a conspicuous place, which Jehovah's Witnesses have not used for a long time, and with inscriptions that they have never used. For example, on the pack it was written: "Give it out by January 15, 2016." Later, the believer, fined 1,500 rubles, argued in vain in court that such inscriptions do not exist in the literature of witnesses, and the word “distribute” is, in principle, not in their vocabulary. The director of this performance did not even try to portray something similar to what happens with witnesses. The court was not interested. Just as he was not interested in the contents of the pack, which was not opened during the hearings. Paradoxically, neither the prosecutor, when drawing up a protocol on an administrative offense, nor the judge, when issuing a guilty verdict, examined the literature, because of which Parygin was fined and went to court.

But the offensive against Jehovah's Witnesses in Arkhangelsk is not only carried out by the FSB. Simultaneously with the planting of literature, the Department of the Ministry of Justice for the Arkhangelsk Region decided to fine the LRO for formal violations of the charter of the LRO, and this despite the fact that the same department had previously approved this charter and did not find any violations in it. However, last summer officials unexpectedly decided that the goals and objectives were incorrectly formulated in the charter - and not so much formulated as formalized. This claim is not based on any rule of law, but believers have not been able to protest the absurd fine. No one in Arkhangelsk has any doubts that this is just another phase in a cycle of attempts to falsify charges against Jehovah's Witnesses and thus liquidate their LPOs, for which the most sophisticated methods are used.

The legislature is not far behind. In December 2015, the Arkhangelsk Regional Assembly finally adopted the so-called law on missionary activity, which assumes that citizens will have to obtain special permission only to talk about their faith (everyone understands who will receive such permission and who will not). In February of this year, Arkhangelsk deputies even proposed to the State Duma that they make appropriate amendments to the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" in order to include the concepts of "missionary" and "missionary activity" in it. This is how an attempt is made to cancel Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to which every citizen has the right "to freely choose, have and disseminate religious and other beliefs."

No guilt - let's think

The very fact that the authorities have to resort to planting and various bureaucratic hooks directly indicates that there is no other evidence of the offenses of Jehovah's Witnesses on which they could be caught. After all, what is the point of planting literature if they have real violations? In the absence of real violations, imaginary ones have to be invented. If there is no corpus delicti, we will create it by inventing "extremism" where no one in the world sees it. If there is no evidence, we will throw it up, since it is not difficult, the technology has long been known. So peaceful, law-abiding citizens turn into criminals just because they "wrongly" believe in God.

Local authorities have perfected such technologies to perfection; they have already been “successfully” used in Belgorod, Samara, Tyumen and other cities. In some cases, believers managed to stop such attempts, for example, in Sevastopol and Balakovo, but this does not always work. In a number of cases, the tosses were also filmed on video, and even more clearly than in Arkhangelsk, but this did not interest the courts either. Paradoxically, believers have to install video cameras to protect themselves not from criminals, but from those who are called upon to protect them from these criminals.

The algorithm of the authorities' actions is very simple: after the planting, a warning from the prosecutor's office is enough, and then the LRO can be liquidated by a quick court decision. In Arkhangelsk, such a warning was issued on June 11, 2015, it was appealed twice (to the district court and the regional one), and twice to no avail. The judges were not even ready to listen to the Jehovah's Witnesses, although in both cases the planting was too obvious for all participants in the trials. It is noteworthy that the same pamphlets (the same ones?) that were found at Parygin's were confiscated a little earlier from another local Jehovah's Witness. However, he, unlike Parygin, was not a member of the MPO, which technically did not allow using the fact of storing literature against the organization.

The authorities are actively using provocateurs and other agents who infiltrate the communities of believers and try to provoke them into various violations, or simply keep an eye on them. For example, in Arkhangelsk, at least one person who attended the services of Jehovah's Witnesses, back in 2014, openly admitted that the FSB offered him to plant literature on them, but he refused. Another person openly provoked witnesses to give him "extremist" publications. Later, he unexpectedly appeared in court as a witness from the FSB. In yet another case, the search was conducted by a police officer who had previously actively interacted with Jehovah's Witnesses and studied the Bible with them.

Despite the gross violations during the searches, the Arkhangelsk Jehovah's Witnesses were not even able to file a complaint against these violations: both the district and regional courts simply rejected the claims, citing (just think about it) the impossibility of interfering in the "internal affairs of the FSB." Thus, it is stated that the FSB is an organization outside the jurisdiction, from which it is impossible to defend oneself, whose actions cannot be appealed.

When the courts do examine the actions of the FSB, the most amazing things happen: a judge who is ready to listen to witnesses can be replaced by one who is extremely annoyed by their very existence; or the judge, who at the first hearing was ready to honestly sort out the situation, by the second hearing suddenly changes his face, becomes irritable and wants to finish the case faster - again with the right verdict; the court refuses to conduct any examinations to which the plaintiffs (Jehovah's Witnesses) have every right; the court retires for a deliberation and does not actually confer, but immediately announces the verdict. Believers in Arkhangelsk have observed all this more than once, seeing how the entire legal machine turns into a fiction when the necessary button is pressed somewhere above.

Looking for reasons

Back in 2011, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Vladimir Lukin sent a letter to the then Minister for Regional Policy of the Arkhangelsk Region Alexander Belyaev. In the letter, the Ombudsman drew attention to the following: "Religious organizations Jehovah's Witnesses are recognized by law and legally operating Russian religious organizations, and their followers are citizens of the Russian Federation, whose rights cannot be arbitrarily restricted due to their ideological choice and membership in one or another churches."

The letter drew attention to the violations that the authorities of the Arkhangelsk region committed against Jehovah's Witnesses, trying to create various obstacles for them, and ordered them to be eliminated. Five years have passed, but the situation has only worsened. Unfortunately, Minister Belyaev passed away in 2012. The new authorities of the region no longer simply “arbitrarily restrict” the rights of citizens on religious grounds, but have launched an aggressive illegal offensive against them.

The statements of Acting Governor Igor Orlov help to understand what is happening in Arkhangelsk today. In his interview to the official website of the Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory diocese, he openly stated that he intended to "delegalize" Jehovah's Witnesses in the region. He said, among other things: "A person can worship Perun or anyone else, but should not harm others and force them to commit illegal acts."

What kind of illegal acts are committed by Arkhangelsk witnesses, the governor decided not to specify. He cannot fail to know that the witnesses did not kill or rob anyone, that the prosecutor's offices of the city and the region do not have a single filed case on their offenses, not a single lawsuit, not a single victim - nothing, zero. But the governor talks again and again about the mythical violations of the witnesses, without citing a single fact.

Whether the governor knows about some secret, especially mysterious crimes of Jehovah's Witnesses, which the police and the prosecutor's office do not know about, but is silent at the same time, is difficult to judge. But his friendship with the new Metropolitan of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory ROC Daniel is well known. Neither one nor the other is embarrassed by this, openly saying in the press that the authorities should help the church in the fight against its competitors, thus violating all the secular foundations of the state system. In the interview mentioned above, the governor said that the government should fight against Jehovah's Witnesses not alone, but "together with the Church." This cooperation was also manifested in the fact that Metropolitan Daniel actively participated in the trials. He sent whole delegations of 20-25 parishioners to them, who were properly instructed.

People who know Governor Orlov well (such as his former colleagues at the Zvyozdochka plant in Severodvinsk) confirm that the metropolitan has great influence on him. So much so that the governor began to sincerely believe that the problems of the region cannot be overcome without spiritual revival, and spiritual revival requires the achievement of two goals: 1) the already mentioned liquidation of Jehovah's Witnesses by turning them into second-class citizens; 2) the construction of a gigantic Cathedral of the Archangel Michael of God with budget money. On the official website of the cathedral under construction, Orlov said that the cathedral "would mark the revival of the North."

Everything falls into place when you understand what the current regional authorities see as the priorities of their activities, which has grown together with the authorities of the church to the point of indistinguishability. The revival of the North in Arkhangelsk mysteriously goes hand in hand with the infringement of the constitutional rights of citizens on religious grounds, insulting their religious feelings (which is prohibited by law today, but who cares?). Of course, hunting for a handful of believers is both easier and cheaper than solving the real problems of the region, primarily economic ones. The Archangel (Archangel) Michael would definitely not approve of the vile tactics that are used for this.

Here is another illustrative quote from an interview with Mr. Orlov: “Only within the framework of the law can one prove that a particular community does not correspond to the interests of society and the state. This process is always difficult, but the work continues.” Planting prohibited literature, wiretapping and blocking telephones, confiscation of personal belongings without return, refusals to appeal against the illegal actions of the FSB, refusals to conduct expert examinations, and much of that kind - all this, it should be assumed, is completely “within the law”. That law, which is designed to protect the interests of citizens, but which in Arkhangelsk is used for their especially cynical trampling.

The Arkhangelsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church probably understands the laws in exactly the same way, which supposedly should bring to society the Christian values ​​of justice and mercy. At the end of 2014, Metropolitan Daniel urged the inhabitants of Arkhangelsk to "do good deeds, speak kind words and refrain from sinful deeds." Less than six months later, a campaign to fabricate evidence against law-abiding citizens began, judging by many statements from the diocese, with the approval of the metropolitan. It should also be taken into account that such attempts to degalalize some communities arise not only in relation to Jehovah's Witnesses, but also to Protestant churches, which the authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church consider "non-traditional" and "unreliable."

In this regard, the governor's phrase "work continues" sounds especially ominous. I would like to believe that we are not talking about continuing the work of fabricating charges against citizens of the Arkhangelsk region, combined with police and judicial arbitrariness."

The Ministry of Justice announced the possibility of criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses

After the liquidation of the head office of Jehovah's Witnesses, criminal cases may be initiated against believers for violations of anti-extremist legislation, a representative of the Ministry of Justice said during a trial in the Russian Supreme Court on April 6.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 5 the Supreme Court of Russia started considering the suit of the Ministry of Justice to ban the activities of the administrative center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. Representatives of the defendant called the attempt to ban their activities political repression, but the court did not agree with this assessment. The Russian Ministry of Justice asked to confiscate the property of the religious organization, but admitted that it had no information about the offenses that were committed under the influence of the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Local religious organizations in the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasian Federal District were repeatedly fined for using literature later included in Federal list of extremist materials . Several local organizations were also liquidated, including Taganrog, Abinsk, Circassian, Elista . "They take every case when we say that our faith is correct, and deduce extremism from this," - earlier commented The "Caucasian Knot" these precedents, the representative of the head Russian office Yaroslav Sivulsky.

Rights "are not diminished", but the deadlines threaten

During the meeting on April 6, Judge Yuri Ivanenko addressed the representative of the Ministry of Justice Svetlana Borisova with questions about the purpose of the lawsuit, what is the reason for the requirement to liquidate the organization, what is the basis of the statement of claim.

"Citizens after the liquidation of the organization where it will be possible to gather and unite on religious grounds?" - the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" who was present in the courtroom quotes Ivanenko's question.

Borisova replied that the right to freedom of conscience and religion remains, the satisfaction of the claim of the rights of citizens "does not diminish", but believers can be prosecuted under a criminal article on extremism.

"We believe that the ban on the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses does not violate the rights of citizens, but if such a decision is made, law enforcement agencies will be able to initiate cases under Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization)," TASS quotes the words of a representative of the Ministry of Justice at the trial in the Supreme Court TASS .

Various provisions of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code provide for fines ranging from 300,000 to 800,000 rubles and terms of imprisonment from two to 12 years, depending on the severity of the offense.

"The law does not oblige to liquidate the organization, but this is not such a case"

"The religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses has signs of extremist activity. We have evidence of the distribution of literature containing allegations of exclusivity, which poses a threat to public order," Svetlana Borisova said during the trial.

"What information is a threat to public order?" - the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent quotes the judge's question.

"Information related to the activities of the organization, what it is, that its foundations of dogma are prohibited ... An indefinite circle of people constantly interacts with the organization, as it is engaged in missionary activities. The organization imports literature, which is subsequently recognized as extremist, the management structure includes organizations recognized extremist," a spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry said.

"In order to stop the spread of extremist literature, it is necessary to liquidate the organization. The organization, as a leading center, does not perform coordinating functions, so it must be liquidated," the plaintiff added.

According to the administrative center of Jehovah's Witnesses, "since March 2015, no literature of Jehovah's Witnesses has been imported into Russia due to a complete ban imposed by the North-Western Customs Administration." This is reported in the "Objection to the administrative statement of claim of the Ministry of Justice of Russia."

The judge clarified whether the law always requires the liquidation of an organization upon the discovery of extremist literature in its local divisions.

"No, not always. But this is not such a case," the plaintiff replied.

"The judge's questions were asked in order to clarify the essence of the requirements of the Ministry of Justice. In our opinion, no satisfactory answers were received," Viktor Zhenkov, the defendant's lawyer, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Another lawyer, Yuriy Toporov, tried to find out whether, under the law on extremism, a warning could be issued to a structural unit without issuing a warning to the organization as a whole. According to Borisova, issuing such a warning is not prohibited by law, according to a test broadcast of the website of Russian Jehovah's Witnesses. When asked whether the law provides for the liquidation of a structural unit without liquidating the organization itself, Borisova replied: "According to your interpretation, it does not."

Judge Ivanenko clarified whether notifications about violations of the law by local religious organizations were sent to the administrative center. The representative of the Ministry of Justice said that she did not have such information.

Ministry of Justice of Russia since March 15 suspended activities administrative center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. All 395 local organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses, including communities in the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasus Federal District, applied to the court to join the process as co-respondents, but their applications were rejected.

"Such cases were reported in the media"

As a threat to public order, the representative of the Ministry of Justice called the refusal to transfuse donor blood, practiced by Jehovah's Witnesses who prefer bloodless medicine. "An indefinite circle of people will receive information ... related to their health," Svetlana Borisova substantiated the position of the plaintiff.

Judge Yuri Ivanenko clarified which rights of citizens are violated by this.

"The right to receive emergency medical care. There are many such cases, they are reported in the media, we have only one court decision on this case," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent quotes the words of a representative of the Ministry of Justice.

"In response to the uproar in the hall, the judge asked those present to restrain their emotions," the official website of the Russian Jehovah's Witnesses describes this episode.

Lawyer Viktor Zhenkov petitioned to refuse to accept a copy of the court decision provided by the Ministry of Justice, since the document does not mention any of the organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses, and also "it is mentioned that there was no threat to life, it was planned treatment."

As a result, Judge Ivanenko postponed the issuance of a ruling on attaching the document to the case file.

On June 10, 2010, in the case of the Religious Community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow and Others v. the Russian Federation, the European Court of Human Rights concluded that refusing a blood transfusion cannot be compared to an attempted suicide or murder. "The situation in which a patient seeks to hasten the onset of death by stopping treatment is different from one in which patients, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, simply choose a method of treatment, but still want to recover and do not refuse treatment altogether," the ruling says. European Court.

"The question of the testimony of experts can still arise"

"According to the judge, the question of the testimony of specialists - religious scholars and linguists - may still arise in this process when we reach the stage of examining evidence. At the same stage, the question of hearing eyewitness testimony of the incidents that formed the basis of However, they do not need to come, the court can listen to their testimony via videoconference," Viktor Zhenkov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

It should be noted that on April 5, the court denied a request for interrogation of 45 Russian citizens who could tell about the circumstances of the discovery in liturgical buildings of literature published by Jehovah's Witnesses and later recognized as extremist.

Witnesses for the defense, in particular, are residents of Maisky, Prokhladny (Kabardino-Balkaria), Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk, Sochi (Krasnodar Territory), Stavropol, Kislovodsk, Budennovsk, Pyatigorsk, the village of Nezlobnaya (Stavropol Territory).

"On March 2, 2016, the parent organization received a warning from the Prosecutor General's Office about the inadmissibility of extremist activity. The warning pointed to the closure of local organizations and the connection between them and the management center. In the 12 months that ended on March 2, 2017, we had many plantings of recognized extremist literature," Ivan Belenko, press secretary of the management center, told the "Caucasian Knot" earlier. In particular, the incident that occurred on September 20, 2016 in the village of Nezlobnaya was filmed by surveillance cameras. A video posted on the website of the Russian Jehovah's Witnesses contains footage of people in black masks entering the worship building taking literature out from under their clothes and placing it on a nearby table.

In the regions of the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasus Federal District, according to the management center, there are about 48,000 actively practicing followers of this religion. In particular, 430 believers live in Dagestan, 1.6 thousand in Kabardino-Balkaria, 350 believers in Karachay-Cherkessia, 8.5 thousand in the Stavropol Territory, 4.3 thousand in North Ossetia, and 17 in the Krasnodar Territory. ,5 thousand, in the Rostov region - 6.5 thousand, in the Astrakhan region - 900, in Kalmykia - 80, in the Volgograd region - 6 thousand, in Adygea - 1.5 thousand Jehovah's Witnesses. H in southern Russia, as of March 30, there were 107 local religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses: in the Krasnodar Territory - 39 communities, in the Rostov Region - 13, in the Volgograd Region - 14, in Adygea - seven, in the Astrakhan Region - one, in the Stavropol Krai - 22, in Kabardino-Balkaria - five, in Dagestan, North Ossetia and Karachay-Cherkessia - two each.

Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia has reached unprecedented proportions , said Russian human rights activists. The UN Human Rights Committee and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have previously expressed concern about the application of the law on extremism to Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. April 6 courtattached to the case materials that may indicate political motives, in particular, documents of the UN, OSCE, statements of human rights organizations.

The "Handbook" section of the "Caucasian Knot" has published an all-Russian list of materials recognized by the court as extremist. In accordance with Article 13 of the federal law "On counteracting extremist activity", this list "is subject to periodic publication in the mass media."