The Supreme Court in Russia has ruled banning Jehovah’s Witnesses, describing the religious grouping an “extremist” organization.
The ruling was made on Thursday after the Justice ministry in the country filed a motion seeking the court to shut down the group’s headquarters located close to St. Petersburg.
Local media quoted the judge who read the ruling, Yuri Ivanenko as saying that “The Supreme Court has ruled to sustain the claim of Russia’s Ministry of Justice and deem the ‘Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’ organization extremist, eliminate it and ban its activity in Russia,”
Judge Yuri Ivanenko further ruled that “The property of the ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ organization is to be confiscated to the state revenue.”
The Russian government claimed that the group engages in extremist activities. Publications of the group are considered in Russia extremist literature.
The group is also accused of destroying families and threatening lives. The group has denied these claims.
The administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia has some 175,000 adherents.
Source: Africafeeds.com
