COURT
FINDS EDITOR IN
CHIEF OF ONLINE PUBLICATION "RELIGION AND LAW" GUILTY AND FINES
HIM
Religiia
i Pravo, 16
June 2020
On 15
June, a
magistrate judge of judicial district No. 100 ordered to find
the editor in
chief of the online publication Religion and Law, attorney
Stanislav Kulov,
guilty of committing an administrative violation of law (Part 2
of article
13.15 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law) and fined
him 4,000
rubles [about 57 U.S. dollars--tr.]. The defense was conducted
by the renowned
attorney Anatoly Pchelintsev.
On 17
March 2020,
Roskomnadzor drew up an affidavit concerning an administrative
violation of law
based on part 2 of article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative
Violations of
Law of the RF regarding the editor in chief of the online
publication Religion
and Law, attorney Stanislav Kulov. The reason for this was the
publication of
an announcement of the presentation of a report of the SOVA
Center with a
mention of repressions against Jehovah's Witnesses*.
Roskomnadzor considers
that it is necessary to indicate that this religious
organization is forbidden
on the territory of Russia as extremist, although the
announcement was not
talking about a religious organization but about believers who
are subjected to
prosecutions.
Roskomnadzor
considered
that the fact that in the publication there was no mention that
the
Russian Supreme Court, on 20 April 2017, had banned the
centralized and local
organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist was a
violation of article 4
of the law "On mass news media" (impermissibility of abuse of
freedom
of news media).
Stanislav
Kulov explained
that in this case, such an indication was not required, since
the law
prescribes mention of the prohibition of an organization, and in
this case the
subject was citizens who profess the religious teaching of
Jehovah's Witnesses,
which was not banned by the Supreme Court's decision.
Consideration of the case
was scheduled for 27 April, but then it was postponed to 20 May.
The court
finally made a decision on 15 June 2020.
As
attorney Anatoly
Pchelintsev explained: "Unfortunately, the court's decision is
not based
on the law. In comments by the authorities of the Russian
Federation on the
admissibility and merits of the appeal of the religious
organization 'Administrative
Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia' in the European Court
of Human Rights
(ECHR) of 23 March 2018, the government of the R.F. also calls
the attention of
the ECHR to the fact that the decision of the Russian Supreme
Court and the
appellate panel of the Russian Supreme Court does not prohibit
or restrict the
profession of the teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses individually
(point 91 of
Comments): 'The authorities of the Russian Federation emphasize
that the
decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 20
April 2017 and
the appellate determination of the appellate panel of the
Supreme Court of the
Russian Federation of 17 July 2017 do not give an assessment of
the religious
teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses and do not contain a restriction
or prohibition
of confessing individually the aforesaid teaching.' In
connection with the
aforesaid, each mention of the wording 'Jehovah's Witnesses'
does not require a
reference to the liquidation or prohibition. Such a reference is
prescribed
only in the event that reference is made immediately to the
forbidden
organization, but it cannot be applicable to instances of
mention of the
religious teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses or of citizens who
profess said
religious teaching."
This
decision will be
appealed in the Zamoskvorechie district court of the city of
Moscow after
receipt of the reasoned decision. The case represents special
interest in order
to appeal to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation
and subsequently
appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in the event that
the truth
"does not prevail."
*The
Supreme Court,
on 20 April 2017, on the basis of a lawsuit of the Russian
Ministry of Justice,
ruled the Russian religious organization "Administrative Center
of
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" to be an extremist organization
and
prohibited its activity on the territory of Russia. The
religious organization
"Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" and
also 395
regional divisions were ruled to be extremist and liquidated.
(tr. by PDS,
posted 17 June 2020)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.