Lyudmila Alekseeva: "Not just a mistake, but, I think, a crime"

"As a human rights activist, I cannot help but be outraged by this decision. Do you want to make these hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens extremists? This is against our Constitution! They pretend that it is a sect, that they are extremists, etc. But the extremism of Jehovah's Witnesses is expressed in the fact that they consider their faith to be true. But, excuse me, what believer does not consider his faith to be true? Jehovah's Witnesses is a church that has branches in many countries. They everywhere freely profess their faith and nowhere are they considered extremists. And we have Jehovah's Witnesses, as sincerely believing people, they are very exemplary citizens - hard-working, honestly treating their families, their children... Will we really sink to such a shame that not only those generations of Jehovah's Witnesses who were in camps in Soviet times, but also those Russian citizens are exemplary citizens, I say again, hard-working, honest, moral! - Who live now, will also go to the camps?! It's going to be a shame! A great shame in front of its citizens. And a disgrace at the international level. This is not just another mistake, but, I believe, a crime of the Ministry of Justice - to declare this church extremist."

Alekseeva Lyudmila Mikhailovna, Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.