ST. PETERSBURG,
Russia—Jehovah’s Witnesses won a major court victory on January 22, 2014,
when an appellate court reversed a lower court’s ruling that banned jw.org, the
official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, throughout Russia.
The Tver Regional
Court overturned the August 7, 2013, decision of the Tsentralniy District
Court. The regional court determined that the district court was unjustified in
banning the website because Jehovah’s Witnesses, the owners, had not been given
an opportunity to participate in the hearing. The local prosecutor in Tver
brought the case to court because jw.org contained publications that Russian
courts have ruled to be “extremist.” As soon as Jehovah’s Witnesses learned of
the district court’s ruling, they removed these publications from jw.org in
Russia. The Tver Regional Court confirmed that the Witnesses were in compliance
with Russian laws and rescinded the ban.
Jehovah’s Witnesses
are contesting the rulings by the Russian courts that have declared some of
their publications to be “extremist” and have submitted several applications to
the European Court of Human Rights to reverse these decisions.
Grigory Martynov, a
spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, states: “We are pleased that the
judges saw the benefits of our website and the reasonableness of our efforts to
comply with Russian court decisions. We will continue to defend the integrity
of our publications and the rights of Russian citizens to benefit fully from
our Bible education work.”
“Witnesses around
the world are rejoicing at this victory,” states J. R. Brown, a
spokesman at the Witnesses’ world headquarters. “Thanks to this legal victory,
all citizens of Russia will continue to have access to this excellent
Bible-education website.”
Media
Contact(s):
International:
J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel.
+1 718 560 5000
No comments:
Post a Comment