Russian Judicial Chamber Vindicates Jehovah’s Witnesses

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES welcome reports about them in the media when such reports are responsibly prepared. Furthermore, Jehovah’s Witnesses are willing to present truthful information about themselves and their religious beliefs and activities. However, when inaccurate or slanderous articles about them are printed, the Witnesses sometimes appeal to governmental authorities to defend their religious and civil rights. Consider a recent example.

On August 1, 1997, in its regional insert in St. Petersburg, Komsomolskaya pravda, a popular Russian newspaper, published an article that grossly misrepresented Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the article, entitled “Sect Petersburg. There Will Be a City-Temple Here,” the author, Oleg Zasorin, claimed that Jehovah’s Witnesses cause harm by their beliefs and that their activities violate the Russian Constitution. The attacks consisted mainly of distortions of the Witnesses’ Bible-based beliefs regarding, for example, blood transfusions and family relations. Furthermore, the article labeled Jehovah’s Witnesses a “sect,” claiming that they are, in the view of some, “the most dangerous of all sects.”

The Administrative Center of the Regional Religious Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia appealed to the Russian Federation Presidential Judicial Chamber for Media Disputes with a request that they review the statements made in the article, which Jehovah’s Witnesses viewed as fraudulent. At the Judicial Chamber’s session on February 12, 1998, representatives of Jehovah’s Witnesses were present and answered numerous questions posed by members of the chamber, as well as by journalists and lawyers. To verify what Jehovah’s Witnesses in fact believe and teach, members of the Judicial Chamber carefully examined literature published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, in particular the book The Secret of Family Happiness.

V. V. Borshchyov, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, noted that the concept of “sects” has purely negative overtones. Mr. Borshchyov stated: “[The taking of such] liberties and the pinning of labels is extremely dangerous. The fact that the Judicial Chamber accepted Jehovah’s Witnesses’ suit for consideration is very important. The flood of such emotions and insults addressed at registered religious organizations must be stopped.”

After hearing all the evidence, the Judicial Chamber concluded that the article appearing in Komsomolskaya pravda was unlawful and unethical; it also found that the article was error ridden and baseless. “The author does not set forth any specific facts . . . The author of the publication spread rumors as reliable reports, abusing journalists’ rights,” the Judicial Chamber said. Contrary to what the newspaper article reported, the Judicial Chamber found that Jehovah’s Witnesses are law-abiding and that they teach members to live peaceably with family and others who do not share their religious beliefs.

One hour after the final testimony was heard, the Judicial Chamber issued its decision:

“1. To recognize the publication of the article ‘Sect Petersburg. There Will Be a City-Temple Here’ as a violation of the requirements of Articles 4, 49, and 51 of the Russian Federation Law ‘On the Mass Media.’

“2. To recommend that the State Committee of the Russian Federation Responsible for Printed Matter review the question of issuing a warning to the editorial board of the newspaper Komsomolskaya pravda.

“3. To issue a reprimand to the journalist O. Zasorin.

“4. To recommend that the editorial board of the newspaper Komsomolskaya pravda issue an apology for the publication of unreliable information that groundlessly denigrates the religious organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

This decision of the Judicial Chamber agrees with the conclusions reached by religious scholar and candidate of philosophy Sergei Ivanenko. After carefully studying the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses and associating with them, Mr. Ivanenko, who is not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, wrote an article that appeared in the February 20-26, 1997, issue of Moscow News.a Mr. Ivanenko concluded: “Jehovah’s Witnesses are distinguished by their steadfast belief in living according to the Bible. . . . To Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Bible is the constitution, the civil code and the highest expression of truth. . . . Jehovah’s Witnesses can be regarded as an example to their fellow citizens for their devotion to Biblical truth and their willingness to stand up for their beliefs so selflessly.”

The decision of the Judicial Chamber and Mr. Ivanenko’s comments once again confirm that the Christian religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses presents no danger to society but, rather, serves for the benefit of all people with upright hearts. Jehovah’s Witnesses remain ‘ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of them a reason for the hope in them, but doing so together with a mild temper and deep respect.’—1 Peter 3:15.

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