Russian Supreme Court bans regional Jehovah's Witnesses branch

Russian Supreme Court's judicial chamber for civil cases upheld a decision to ban a southern Russian branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Russian Supreme Court's judicial chamber for civil cases upheld a decision to ban a southern Russian branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal against a previous court ruling of the Rostov regional court issued on September 11, 2009, which declares the Jehovah's Witnesses' branch in the southern Russian city of Taganrog an extremist organization and bans its activities.

Some 34 books, issued and handed out by the organization, were put on the national list of extremist literature.

The ruling "could set a precedent not only for Jehovah's Witnesses, but for believers of all confessions," the group said in a statement, issued on its website ahead of the hearing. "It would be the first time internationally recognized Christian literature was censored in Russia."

A plot of land, an office building and other property belonging to the group were also seized.

A regional prosecutor told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that some publications, distributed by the cult's followers, "contain offensive comments," including those that say that Christianity is a "false religion."

She said that followers of Jehovah's Witnesses also violate the rights of atheists with their "repeated attempts to enter private premises with the purpose of intrusive preaching"

The Jehovah's Witnesses, which has some seven million followers worldwide and 300,000 in Russia, have already been banned in a number of former Soviet republics. The organization is also banned in Moscow.

The group, known in the West for persistent door-to-door evangelism, was formed in the 19th century in the United States. The group believes that Judgement Day will soon be upon us.

MOSCOW / ROSTOV-ON-DON, December 8 (RIA Novosti)