Jehovah's Witnesses refute accusations of financing extremism

Today, at the trial on the liquidation of the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses' in Russia as an extremist organization, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has presented documents on the Centre’s finances and stated that money was spent on extremism; however, was not able to justify its assertions. The advocates told about collection of data about the property of ordinary believers.

The MoJ has noted, referring to documents, that over 2000 unregistered groups operate under the guidance of the Administrative Centre. The advocates explained that this is the internal spiritual structure of the Centre.

Also, the court has considered the certificates and letters of gratitude granted by the authorities to the Administrative Centre and local religious organizations for their help in improving towns and cities. The MoJ’s representative said that Jehovah's Witnesses are doing all that for the sake of their "missionary work."

Konstantin Sedov, the Elder of the community of Jehovah's Witnesses of Volgograd, told about well-known regional members of the organization, repressed in the Soviet era, namely, Potap (Peter) Krupnov, born in 1926, and Fyodor Marinin, born in 1912.

The repressions of the Stalin’s regime may repeat again, said Andrei Safonov, the chairman of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses "Elshanskaya. Volgograd".

The attitude of citizens to Jehovah's Witnesses has not changed radically because of the talks about the ban, said the advocate Nikita Abramov, who takes part in the affairs of the organization in the Rostov Region.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.