Opinions

The scale and cruelty of pressure is growing. Last year we had some hopes, that the repressive campaign could slow down at least, but we were wrong. That fight against JWs is so weird. I’d say this year’s developments makes us believe that the fight is really very important to our authorities, if they spend a lot of law enforcement system resources—even in time of war.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are the religious group that has been the most persecuted in Russia since it was banned in 2017 and hereby deprived of their freedoms of association, assembly, worship and expression. Statistics about the magnitude of the repression are disturbing. Freedom of religion or belief is the cornerstone of all freedoms.

This year, Russia has continued its inexplicable and expanding persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, with more Witnesses than ever behind bars and facing long prison sentences for the mere practice of their beliefs. There is no possible justification for Russia’s ruthless crackdown on Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religious minorities as supposedly ‘extremist’. The Russian government must end its practice of falsely labeling religious groups ‘extremist’ and permit freedom of religion or belief for all.

Russia continues to treat this religious community as dangerous extremists despite a total lack of evidence to back up this claim. And Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to face criminal prosecution and lengthy prison sentences for actions that amount to little more than speaking about their faith with one another and their communities. The level of persecution harkens back to Soviet-era mistreatment of Witnesses, and puts Russia well out of step with democratic states. Witnesses are a known and recognized religious community in Europe. Russia’s treatment of them is a clear violation of their human rights, a fact affirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in its ruling on the Russian ban.

The persecution of the Jehovah Witnesses in Russia is escalating and terrifying. The JWs have been treated as “extremists” since 2017 (according to the 2002 law on countering extremism). The Supreme Court banned their activities. Now many of them are remanded in custody, arrested, and sentenced to prison. Their homes are raided. This is all inhumane, against human dignity, and shall be condemned with all means. It is not only against international law (article 18 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights) and the Constitution of the Russian Federation (art. 28) as both guarantee religious freedom, but this is also against the common sense. Even older people are jailed. For what? For singing songs, studying the Bible and offering prayers collectively at private homes. This is ridiculous that people are punished for worshipping in private.

This leads to the question: why? There is no one clear reason why Russia is doing towards the JWs what is doing. During my classes on challenges and controversies of religion and law in Europe (at the University of Eastern Finland), we study this persecution case. Having read relevant materials about the persecution, my students coming from different countries and religious traditions are not still able to answer why this is happening what is happening. However, some intuitions of ours are correct: the JWs in Russia might be perceived as a Western, American agent (it means being a “suspect” or, in fact, a spy) in a traditionally Orthodox and post-Soviet circle (with a lot of “culturally Orthodox”, white Russian nationalism). The question is whether Putin ordered this persecution or not. Few years ago, he was surprised about the scope of the persecution. But he might have lied about his lack of knowledge. The persecution might be a part of a “civilizational” war by Russia against the US/the West.

Russia’s continuing persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses as ‘extremists’ who threaten Russia’s national security is unfair and unwise. It contributes to an atmosphere of fear and social stagnation.

At a time when the war in Ukraine dominates Western policymakers’ attention for (easily understandable and justified reasons), it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that the deteriorating human rights situation inside Russia is unfolding on several fronts. The collapse in respect for religious freedom by the Russian authorities as an important example. The wave of unjustified arrests and harsh prison sentences for Jehovah’s Witnesses is simply dismaying.

“In all cases, the accusations brought against believers are based on the assertion that a group of believers held a worship service. The accusations of citizens that they read the Bible together and pray to God are interpreted as “continuation of the activities of an extremist organization.” The Council considers that such an interpretation is not consistent with the legal position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. There is a contradiction between the declared position of the Government of the Russian Federation and law enforcement practice. This cannot but cause concern, since criminal prosecutions and arrests have become systemic. The situation is associated with the Soviet period, when “Jehovah’s Witnesses” were subjected to unreasonable repression on the basis of religion, as a result of which the Law of the Russian Federation of October 18, 1991, No. 1761-1, “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression,” was extended to them.”

“We urge the Russian authorities to stop deprivations, interrogations and criminal investigations for peaceful religious activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses. We ask the international organizations and governments of the democratic states to call on the Russian government to end the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses. […] After Russia outlawed the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the number of acts of intolerance, violence and discrimination based on religion or belief are increasingly perpetrated towards the members of the community. The private property is armed searched, the meetings for worship are regularly interrupted by the OMON forces and FSB agents. The state carries censorship of the religious literature.”

“What happens to them, in fact, happens to us. This is a test of the immune forces of society. The persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses highlights the failure of anti-extremist legislation in general. If the society fails to protect Jehovah’s Witnesses, if they are not restored in their rights, this will mean that everyone can be declared an extremist. […] An experience of a person who found answers with Jehovah’s Witnesses to his questions that the Catholic priest could not resolve, was declared by the courts as propaganda of religious superiority—that is all extremism. Such “extremism,” and much more brutal, can be found in theological, liturgical, and other texts of most faiths. If you take on religious scriptures with the same measure, you will have to ban all religions.”

“In all cases, the accusations brought against believers are based on the assertion that a group of believers held a worship service. The accusations of citizens that they read the Bible together and pray to God are interpreted as “continuation of the activities of an extremist organization.” The Council considers that such an interpretation is not consistent with the legal position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. There is a contradiction between the declared position of the Government of the Russian Federation and law enforcement practice. This cannot but cause concern, since criminal prosecutions and arrests have become systemic. The situation is associated with the Soviet period, when “Jehovah’s Witnesses” were subjected to unreasonable repression on the basis of religion, as a result of which the Law of the Russian Federation of October 18, 1991, No. 1761-1, “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression,” was extended to them.”

“An analysis of the institutional components of Jehovah’s Witnesses shows that, despite the socio-oppositionist and symbolic social-isolationist positions characteristic of this community, the idea of a revolutionary transformation of social reality is alien to it (let us recall the Witnesses’ military-political neutrality). Accusations of confessional anonymity also seem groundless on the contrary, the Witnesses are confessionally recognizable, which is confirmed by the topics of their sermons and the literature they distribute. Believers’ attitudes in the sphere of family relations (orientation towards a strong family, even if its members hold different religious views) contradict the critical statements that the community destroys families.”