Russia court considers Jehovah’s Witnesses ban

Russian court has declared that Jehovah’s Witness, will now be considered an extremist organisation. The group has already been placed on the list of extremist groups by the justice ministry.

In Russia, Christianity has 175,000 members and 395 branches.

According to the ministry, the group has violated Russia’s law by giving out flyers and inciting hate against other religious groups.

The Jehovah’s Witness group denied all accusations of being an extremist group. The representative Yaroslav Siversky of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, said that the case is biased, because the court never listens to their arguments.

The Jehovah’s Witness group was founded in the 19th century in the USA. During the Stalin regime, almost all believers were deported to Syberia. Other branches of christianity were also persecuted.

The ban of the Jehovah’s Witness was lifted in 1991. In 2004, the group was prohibited from recruiting children.They are believed not to be one of the Christian denomination by the Christian Churches.

The human right group Sova claimed that the believers have been attacked not only by Russian government but have also suffered physical abuse for many years.