Jehovah's Witnesses waiting for Russian government compliance

Moscow - It has been over one month since the European Court of Human Rights found in favor of Jehovah's Witnesses who filed a complaint against the Russian government in 2001. Are there signs that Russia will comply with the ruling?

On June 10, 2010 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg ruled to protect religious freedoms in Russia. The seven judge panel was unanimous in its decision declaring the liquidation and ban on the activities of the Moscow Community of Jehovah’s Witnesses as unlawful and in violation of the fundamental human rights of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, says a press release on the official media site of Jehovah's Witnesses. The court rejected allegations which were used to attempt to ban their community in Moscow; that the Jehovah's Witnesses destroy families and infringe on the rights and freedoms of citizens. The judgement in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses of Moscow v. Russia awards Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow twenty thousand euros in respect of non-pecuniary damage as well as fifty thousand euros in respect of costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants, payable within three months. Both parties now have 3 months to appeal the decision. As of July 12 neither party has done so, reports Forum 18. In December of 2009, Russia's highest court upheld the outlawing of religious activities by Jehovah's Witnesses, the seizing of their property, and the banning of 34 of the group's publications including one entitled Come Be My Follower, a book about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, as well as the group's signature magazine, The Watchtower labeling them as extremist, reported Digital Journal. The Watchtower is the most widely distributed magazine in the world. Since that ruling Jehovah's Witnesses have experienced an increase in incidents of harassment as well as bad treatment from individuals and government authorities in the form of arson attacks on places of worship, arrests, unlawful searches, assaults, confiscation of literature, and restrictions against renting and building meeting places. On June 1, 2010, Jehovah's Witnesses filed a new complaint with the ECHR against the Russian government claiming the Russian court ruling goes against religious freedoms guaranteed by the constitution. Thus far all enquiries to Russian authorities by the media to find out if or when the government will comply with the June 10 court ruling have been turned down. A woman whom I shall call Maria of St. Petersburg, Russia, who is one of Jehovah's Witnesses contacted me by email Friday saying as far as she was concerned "nothing has changed at all". Jehovah's Witnesses have been present in Russia since 1891. They were banned soon after the Russian Revolution in 1917 and persecuted in the Soviet Union. After the USSR Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations was enacted in 1990, on 27 March 1991 the RSFSR Ministry of Justice registered the charter of the Administrative Centre of The Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR. On 11 December 1992 the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation registered the charter of the Administrative Centre of the Regional Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. The Moscow branch of Jehovah's Witnesses, obtained legal-entity status on 30 December 1993 from the Moscow City Justice Department. According to its charter, the purpose of the group was “joint profession and dissemination of their faith and carrying on religious activity to proclaim the name of their God, Jehovah”.