Paul Goble
Staunton,
August 6 – The Memorial Human Rights Center says that the more than 29
Jehovah’s Witnesses now in preliminary detention or under house arrest in the
Russian Federation are political prisoners because the charges against them
have been fabricated by the government.
“We
do not use the term ‘prisoner of conscience’” which International Amnesty does,
but it precisely conveys the essence of the case: they are being persecuted
exclusively and immediately for their faith and convictions, for the
realization of their rights to freedom of conscience and convictions which are guaranteed both by
the Constitution and international norms,” Memorial says (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5B66F9821E17B).
“The decision of the Supreme Court
about the ban on the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the recognition of their
organization as extremist does not withstand any criticism. It is in fact based
on previous decisions of various district courts in the course of recent years
which have more than one recognized printed materials of this church as
extremist,” the group says.
And these decisions in turn, the
SOVA Human Rights Center adds, are in every case based on hireling experts who
say whatever the authorities want said without any regard for the truth.
In reporting this, human rights
activist Sergey Davidis observes that he “does not understand the logic and meaning
of this persecution. Its illegality is obvious, but many are persecuted
illegally in [Russia]. In the majority
of cases, however, it is clear why this is being done and what profit those who
engage in it receive.”
But “in the case of the persecution
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, whatever the hypothetical gains of the authorities
might be … they are exceeded many times over by the real attacks on the
reputation [of the country and its government,] losses which in turn will only
grow over time.” In this situation, one can only call for “freeing the
political prisoners,” he says.
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