Applications from 22 Crimean organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses have been submitted to the Supreme Court of Russia

The Ministry of Justice demands that all 396 registered Jehovah's Witnesses organizations in Russia, including 22 organizations in Crimea, be liquidated, recognized as extremist, banned and confiscated. For the 8,000 believers on the peninsula who have been practicing their religion freely for decades, the news came as a complete surprise.

These 22 local religious organizations (LROs) of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Republic of Crimea were registered at the initiative of the Russian authorities in May 2015. Since then, they have not received any complaints, fines or warnings from the state. Therefore, they are extremely perplexed about the initiative of the Ministry of Justice to ban them and recognize them as extremist.

The most outrageous thing is that the Ministry of Justice considered it possible to outlaw all these organizations - behind their backs, without involvement in the case. The statement of claim, with a great delay, was sent only to the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia."

For this reason, 22 Crimean LROS filed applications with the Supreme Court to involve them in the case as an administrative co-defendant. They recall that in the Russian Federation the right to judicial protection is one of the fundamental inalienable rights.