The United Kingdom remains deeply concerned about the
situation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Russian
Federation, says Nicola Murray, Deputy Head of
Delegation, at the OSCE Permanent Council.
"As we said on 12 March, the ruling of the Russian
Supreme Court in July 2017, which rejected the appeal
against the decision to categorise Jehovah’s Witnesses
as “extremists”, criminalised the peaceful worship of
175,000 Russian citizens and contravened the right to
religious freedom that is enshrined in the Russian
Constitution, and in multiple OSCE commitments.
"It is with deep regret that we learned that on 13
July, 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses were
simultaneously searched by Russian authorities in the
cities of Voronezh and Stary Oskol. Thirteen Jehovah’s
Witnesses were detained at the time and two individuals
were reportedly beaten during a home search.
"The total number of homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses that
have been searched by Russian law enforcement
authorities now stands at over 1,000. As we noted in
March, home raids are often conducted in the early
hours of the morning by large numbers of masked and
armed police.
"We repeat our concern that the increasing number of
searches, as well as use of simultaneous large-scale
home raids, creates the impression of an organised
campaign of persecution against Jehovah’s Witnesses.
"So-called “evidence” used against those investigated
and prosecuted includes regular aspects of communal
religious life. We again remind the Russian Federation
of our extensive commitments on freedom of religion or
belief, including from Vienna 1989, as well as Kyiv
2013, where States committed to:
"Fully implement their commitments to ensure the right
of all individuals to profess and practice religion or
belief, either alone or in community with others, and
in public or private, and to manifest their religion or
belief through teaching, practice, worship and
observance, including through transparent and
non-discriminatory laws, regulations, practices and
policies;
"For three years now, the delegation of the Russian
Federation has assured the Permanent Council that
individual Jehovah’s Witnesses are able to practice
their religion at home, as no permission is required to
pray in Russia. However, we have witnessed time and
again that any manifestation of their faith by
Jehovah’s Witnesses can result in the search of their
homes, lengthy detention, criminal prosecution and
imprisonment.
"We again call on the Russian Federation to end the
persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and to uphold the
commitments on the right to freedom of thought,
conscience, religion or belief for all individuals
across the Russian Federation."
