A report by the US Today says Russia's justice ministry is demanding that the Christian sect, Jehovah’s Witness be termed an extremist organisation.
The report said a lawsuit has been filed with Russia’s Supreme Court to declare the national headquarters of the country's Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist organization but that there was no date for legal action.
Also, in 2015, a Russian court ruled the group’s website was also an extremist publication. It is noted that the Jehovah’s Witness emerged from the Bible Student Movement, founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell with the formation of Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society.
Some members of the Jehovah's Witness carrying out evangelism.
The group's administrative center in Russia is located about 25 miles northwest of St. Petersburg.
US Today quoted the press office for the Russian branch of the Jehovah’s Witness as saying on its website that such a declaration would entail disastrous consequences for freedom of religion in Russia if it is successful.
According to the press office, the decision, if passed by the court, would directly affect about 175,000 followers at more than 2,000 congregations in the country.
"Extremism is deeply alien to the Bible-based beliefs and morality of Jehovah's Witnesses.
“Persecution of the faithful for peaceful anti-extremism legislation is built on frank fraud, incompetent individual 'experts' and, as a result, a miscarriage of justice,” the statement claimed.
The organisation’s website states that Jehovah's Witnesses was first legally registered as a religious group in Russia in 1991. It was re-registered in 1999.
Vasily Kalin, the chairman of the religious group's steering committee, said members want to oeacefully worship their God, “unfortunately, after more than 100 years in power, Russia violates its own legislation that guarantees us that right.
“In Stalin's time, when I was a child, the whole family was deported to Siberia only because we were Jehovah's Witnesses. It's a shame and sad that my children and grandchildren will be faced with something like that.”
Earlier court decisions have ruled against the religious organisation in the country.
For example, in 2009, a court ruled that the Russian-language version of the group’s publication, The Watchtower, is an extremist publication and barred it.
The name Jehovah’s witness was adopted in 1931 to distinguish it from other Bible student groups and symbolise a break with the legacy of Russell’s traditions.
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