22, 2014 UPDATE: Jehovah’s
Witnesses won a major court victory today when an appellate court reversed an
earlier ruling by a lower court that banned jw.org, the official website of
Jehovah’s Witnesses, throughout Russia. The Regional Court of Tver conducted a
new trial, which concluded that the decision of the Tsentralniy District Court
on August 7, 2013, was unjustified, since there was no legal reason to ban the
site. “Witnesses around the world are rejoicing at this victory,” states
J. R. Brown, a spokesman at the Witnesses’ world headquarters.
“Thanks to this legal victory, all citizens of Russia will continue to have
access to this excellent Bible-education website.”
ST.
PETERSBURG, Russia—On August 7, 2013, the Tsentralniy District Court of
the city of Tver, located 100 mi (approx. 160 km) north of Moscow, ruled
that the Bible-education website jw.org should be banned throughout the Russian
Federation.
Although
jw.org is consulted by hundreds of thousands around the world and is highly
regarded by researchers, the court sided with officials seeking to ban the
popular website. The court rendered its decision without notifying or taking
any testimony from the publishers of the site, the Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society of New York. Jehovah’s Witnesses are appealing the decision to the Tver
Regional Court. The appeal is scheduled to be heard on January 22, 2014.
If the
appeal is denied, the website will no longer be available to the over 160,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, who regularly use the website for religious
services and in personal and family Bible study. Promoting the website will
then become a criminal act in Russia. Additionally, some 142 million people
living in Russia will be restricted from consulting jw.org for free information
about the Bible. Commenting on the website, Yekaterina Elbakyan, Doctor of
Philosophy and expert in religious studies who serves as a professor at the
Academy of Labor and Social Relations in Moscow, says that jw.org is “a gift
for anybody who is engaged in religious research. It provides comprehensive and
understandable material. Significant spiritual and moral issues are presented
in a simple way. When you use the website, you feel like you are being openly
welcomed into the home of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
Speaking
from St. Petersburg, Grigory Martynov, a spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in
Russia, states: “The jw.org website is a wonderful tool for those in our
country searching for information about the Bible and is not politically or
commercially affiliated in any way. We hope that the Tver Regional Court will
ensure that this popular educational resource remains available for all
Russians.”
J. R. Brown,
a spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses at their world headquarters in New York,
comments: “The jw.org website is valued both as a research tool and as a
trusted information source for families all over the world. It is so valued
that an average of 900,000 people visit the site every day to access positive
information available in some 600 languages. Censoring this material is clearly
unwarranted.”
Media
Contact(s):
International:
J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel.
+1 718 560 5000
Russia:
Grigory Martynov, tel. +7 812 702 2691
jw.org official website of Jehovah's Witnesses
