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The European Court of Human Rights Rules Russia's Ban on Jehovah's Witnesses Unlawful

Jehovah's Witnesses
Origin from 2022

On 7 June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights decided Taganrog LRO and Others v. Russia, a case consolidating twenty separate applications brought by Jehovah's Witnesses organizations and individual members in Russia. The Chamber found violations of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights over the 2009 forced dissolution of the Taganrog local religious organization, and further violations, under Articles 9, 10 and 11, over the 2017 nationwide liquidation of Jehovah's Witnesses' administrative center and hundreds of affiliated organizations, the banning and confiscation of their religious publications and website, and the criminal prosecution of individual members after their literature was designated extremist. The Court ordered Russia to discontinue the pending criminal proceedings, release those imprisoned on the underlying charges, and return the confiscated properties or pay compensation, awarding a total of 59,617,458 euros in pecuniary damages and 3,447,250 euros in non-pecuniary damages across the consolidated applicants.

Facts
Dates
Start Year
from 2022 1
Status
Established 1
Established marks the Court's own ruling and the violations and remedies it ordered. It is not a judgment on Jehovah's Witnesses' teaching or practice, and it does not address Russia's continued enforcement of the ban since the judgment.
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How the European Court of Human Rights Ruled Russia's Ban on Jehovah's Witnesses Unlawful

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

On 7 June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights decided Taganrog LRO and Others v. Russia, a case consolidating twenty separate applications brought by Jehovah's Witnesses organizations and individual members in Russia.

The Chamber found violations of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights over the 2009 forced dissolution of the Taganrog local religious organization, the case that gave the consolidated action its name.

Further violations followed under Articles 9, 10 and 11 over the 2017 nationwide liquidation of Jehovah's Witnesses' administrative center and hundreds of affiliated organizations, the banning and confiscation of their religious publications and website, and the criminal prosecution of individual members after their literature was designated extremist.

The Court ordered Russia to discontinue the pending criminal proceedings, release those imprisoned on the underlying charges, and return the confiscated properties or pay compensation, awarding a total of 59,617,458 euros in pecuniary damages and 3,447,250 euros in non pecuniary damages across the consolidated applicants.

What the Taganrog judgment changed for Jehovah's Witnesses' standing was placing an international court's finding on record against the full scope of Russia's 2017 nationwide liquidation, not only the earlier Taganrog dissolution alone, and attaching a compensation order to the finding rather than a declaration without remedy.

Connections

Occurred In

Russia, Countries
Source Strasbourg Court Rules Russia's Ban on Jehovah's Witnesses Unlawful (The European Times)

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Closes an 8-year gap since 2018's South Korea Ends Sixty Five Years Of Imprisoning Jehovah's Witness Objectors, the most recent event already on Jehovah's Witnesses' map, with Europe's human rights court ruling on Russia's own ban and property seizures.

Source Strasbourg Court Rules Russia's Ban on Jehovah's Witnesses Unlawful (The European Times)
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Sources
1. Strasbourg Court Rules Russia's Ban on Jehovah's Witnesses Unlawful (The European Times)
The European Times, 2022View the Source
The European Court of Human Rights Finds Russia's Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses Unlawful (Bitter Winter)
Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter, 2022View the Source
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