Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activities banned in Russia

File Photo: Jehovah’s Witnesses sharing

Russia’s Supreme Court has banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses church from the country after finding the group to be extremist organization.

Naija News had reported in March that the Justice Ministry filed a request with the nation’s supreme court against the group potentially endangering the 175,000 members in the country.

however, the church has vowed to appeal the ban on its activities in Russia at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The organisation said it had exhausted all other legal channels within Russia.

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Before the verdict, four former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses had told  Russia’s Supreme Court how they were brainwashed by the church against receiving higher education or starting a family.

The Christian organization was reacting a day after Russia’s Supreme Court rejected its appeal and upheld the earlier ruling which declared the organisation “extremist” and ordered it to disband in Russia.

“We plan to appeal this at the European Court of Human Rights as soon as we can,” Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a member of the European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, said.

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“All legal avenues inside Russia have been exhausted.”

Sivulskiy said Jehovah Witnesses strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling against it, but had no option but to comply.