ENGLISH VERSION: Moscow court rules against freedom of worship

For Immediate Release

March 26, 2004

MOSCOW—Judge Vera K. Dubinskaya of the Golovinsky Intermunicipal District Court of the Northern Administrative Circuit of the city of Moscow ruled today to liquidate the Moscow Community of Jehovah's Witnesses and to impose a ban on their activity. The Moscow Community of Jehovah's Witnesses is appealing the ruling, which means that the judge's decision has not entered into legal force. The Moscow City (Appeals) Court will consider the appeal in the coming months. As a result, the current legal status of the Moscow Community of Jehovah's Witnesses remains unaltered despite today's decision.

"As in the first trial which we won, this case did not involve any specific facts or alleged incidents of wrongdoing, but dealt exclusively with whether the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses are legitimate," stated defense counsel Artur Leontyev. "This question has already been decided numerous times by the European Court, which ruled that it is not within a State's prerogative to examine the legitimacy of religious beliefs, much less pass sentence on them. It is clear that this decision cannot stand on appeal and will only serve to accelerate the review of our application filed with the European Court of Human Rights." This application before the European Court of Human Rights concerns the legal recognition of the Moscow Community of Jehovah's Witnesses and its religious activity. In June 2003, acting on this application, the European Court submitted questions to the Russian government regarding its treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow. (...)