Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Russian Supreme Court Halts Activities of Jehovah's Witnesses, Bans Its Books

The Russian Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that halts the activities of a regional branch of Jehovah's Witnesses, and bans dozens of its publications.

In September, a court in Rostov-on-Don outlawed the group's activities in the region, seized its assets there, and labeled 34 of its publications extremist. The Russian Supreme Court upheld that ruling yesterday, according to the Associated Press.

The list of banned books includes a children's book of Bible stories, and the Jehovah's Witnesses' signature magazine, "The Watchtower."

Jehovah's Witness spokesman Yaroslav Sivulskiy said, "We are deeply disappointed with that decision."

Sivulskiy added, "We consider it to be a rollback to the past," in a reference to the Soviet communist era, when many members of Jehovah's Witnesses were put in prison. "The Supreme Court makes it illegal for us to profess our views."

The group plans to appeal to the European Court for Human Rights. There are more than 160,000 Jehovah's Witnesses living in Russia.

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