Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MOSCOW546
2009-03-05 15:39:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:  

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES TARGETED FOR HARASSMENT AND

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KIRF PINR PREL SOCI RS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0866
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHMO #0546/01 0641539
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 051539Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2255
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 000546 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF PINR PREL SOCI RS
SUBJECT: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES TARGETED FOR HARASSMENT AND
POSSIBLE PERSECUTION

REF: 08 MOSCOW 1213

Classified By: Ambassador John Beyrle for reason 1.4(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 000546

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF PINR PREL SOCI RS
SUBJECT: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES TARGETED FOR HARASSMENT AND
POSSIBLE PERSECUTION

REF: 08 MOSCOW 1213

Classified By: Ambassador John Beyrle for reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) Summary. Over the past several months, two regional
courts have charged the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) of Russia
with distributing extremist literature, and the Russian
General Prosecutor has ordered a full investigation of JW
religious activity, in coordination with the FSB. Local
police and FSB officials interrupted JW religious ceremonies
and individual members subsequently received burdensome and
intrusive information requests. No other religious groups in
Russia have experienced a similarly intense period of
scrutiny in recent months. JW representatives believed that
an "anti-cult" organization loosely affiliated with the
Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) instigated the investigation,
just days after the inauguration of ROC Patriarch Kirill.
Human Rights Ombudsman Lukin has refused to meet with JW
officials three times in the past several years, calling any
such meeting a "dangerous situation." Lukin's deputy
covering religious affairs warned us about United Russia
party efforts to revise the 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience
to combat extremism. The Ambassador underscored strong
concern over the targeting of JW with Presidential Human
Rights Council Chairperson Pamfilova and plans to raise the
issue in an upcoming meeting with Patriarch Kirill. End
Summary.

Targeted for Legal Action?
--------------


2. (C) On February 26, Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) attorney
Marc Hansen, JW Presiding Committee Chairman Vassiliy Kalin,
and JW Presiding Committee member Yaroslav Sivulskiy told us
that Russian First Deputy Prosecutor General Aleksandr
Buksman issued an assignment to regional prosecutor offices
to investigate the legality of the Administrative Center of
Jehovah's Witnesses' religious activity in Russia. Buksman
requested that regional prosecutor offices cooperate with the
FSB, Ministry of Justice, public health departments and
organizations, and military commissars to provide a full

account of JW violations by February 18. Hansen learned
about the coordinated review after receiving a copy of a
letter from the Moscow Region Prosecutor's Office dated
February 13, issued to all Moscow city, district, and special
prosecutor's offices. The letter signed by First Deputy
Regional Prosecutor Aleksandr Ignatenko tasked all regional
offices to take prosecutorial measures, wherever grounds for
action existed, and chastised JW's missionary activity,
social isolation, teachings to avoid military service, and
refusal to receive blood transfusions as fostering a
"negative relationship to the population and traditional
Russian confessions." A similar order issued by Sakhalin
Region First Deputy Prosecutor Vladimir Minigorayev on
February 2 called on territorial police departments, FSB, and
Ministry of Justice officials to organize an investigation of
any JW violations of Federal Law 125 on Freedom of Conscience
and on Religious Communions of 1997. Ignatenko's request
acknowledged that JW registered with the Ministry of Justice
in 1999 and has over 400 communities in Russia subordinate to
the Administrative Center.


3. (C) As a result of the Russian Prosecutor General's
assignment, several Jehovah's Witnesses chapters received
court orders to provide information about the organization's
activities. JW chapters in Solnechnodolsk (Stavropol
Territory),Angarsk (Irkutsk Region),and Sarapul (Udmurt
Republic) received requests for legal documents on chapter
registration, member lists, details on religious events and
practices, real estate documentation, bank account records,
and details on chapter management decisions. All of the
orders, issued between February 13 and 17, requested a full
accounting from JW chapters by February 18. A fourth chapter
in Belokurikha (Altai Territory) received a court order on
February 18 for information on all chapter members who
applied for marriage annulments from 2004 to the present.

Vague Extremism Charges
--------------


4. (C) Russian authorities charged Jehovah's Witnesses in
Altai Territory and Rostov Oblast with extremism in early
2009, prompting a flurry of legal activity from both sides.
On February 26, Andrik told us that there had been positive
developments in the Salsk (Rostov Oblast) court proceeding
that charged JW with the production and dissemination of 12
pieces of extremist literature (as opposed to 27 in Altai).
Andrik noted that the Salsk prosecutor lacked evidence
proving the extremist nature of JW religious literature, and
added that the prosecutor never claimed in the proceedings
that JW literature is actually extremist, only that it "could

MOSCOW 00000546 002 OF 003


be" or "might be used as" extremist literature. The Salsk
prosecutor, whom Hansen described as inexperienced, promised
to discuss the evidence with her superiors before the next
court hearing on March 12.


5. (C) While no decisions in the Gorno-Altaisk (Altai
Territory) case had been made, JW representatives described
their chances of success as "comparably poor." Hansen
attributed part of JW's problems in Gorno-Altaisk to the
rural characteristics of the region, conceding that more
traditional bureaucrats likely will rule against them. While
Andrik and Hansen applauded the judge's decision to allow
them access to the prosecutor's files, they pointed to a
problematic 49-page study conducted by a Gorno-Altaisk
university that claimed JW engaged in "mind control"
activities. While JW challenged the admissibility of the
study, performed over a three day period in January 2009,
Hansen believed that cost and time constraints would prevent
the judge in Altai from ordering a second evaluation. Hansen
offered that a quick review of the lists of the so-called
"extremist" magazines and books showed that none of the
publications singled out in Salsk and Gorno-Altaisk
overlapped, calling into question the uniformity of criteria
used by these courts in the review process. (Note: Andrik
stated that there are only 150,000 registered members of JW
in Russia, but twice that many attend services. End Note).

Harassment in Kazan, St. Petersburg
--------------


6. (C) Sivulskiy told us on February 26 that the St.
Petersburg office of the JW had received hundreds of calls
from members complaining about government harassment in
schools and worship services. He said that local police and
FSB agents recently visited elementary school classes and
asked teachers to indicate which students were members of
Jehovah's Witnesses, subsequently approaching the children
for information about their lifestyles. Law enforcement
officials singled out no other "minority" students. In
Tatarstan, FSB agents interrupted a JW worship service and
asked for identification from each parishioner, preventing
the observation of their normal practices. Such incidents
compelled JW leaders to appeal to Human Rights Ombudsman
Vladimir Lukin in past years, but Sivulskiy said that Lukin's
rejection of the last three meeting requests as a "dangerous
situation" hardly encouraged JW representatives to try again.


Government Expert Wary About Current Trend
--------------


7. (C) Mikhail Odintsov, Head of the Department of Religious
Affairs in the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office, told us on
January 20 that "all things are possible in Russia" regarding
changes on religious freedom, and characterized the current
environment for non-Orthodox groups as a "return to the
Soviet Union." Odintsov cited the legal problems of the
Jehovah's Witnesses, property disputes facing the Baptists, a
Justice Ministry lawsuit against a Pentecostal seminary, and
visa problems restricting missionaries as examples of
hardships facing many religious groups in Russia. Concerning
the cases currently facing JW, Odintsov cited past European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions in 1993, 2000, and
2001 which confirmed the legal rights of the JW, as well as
the ECHR ruling on the complaint "Kuznetsov and Others vs.
Russia" which dismissed government charges against JW in
Rostov region in November 2007 as a breach of article 9 of
the European Convention on Human Rights. That said, he
believed that the scale of the campaign suggested higher
powers at play.

Russian Orthodox Church Tied to Harassment?
--------------


8. (C) Andrik told us on January 28 that an organization
associated with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) provided
the main impetus for action against Jehovah's Witnesses. In
documents provided to the ECHR regarding the investigations
of the JW Administrative Center, he pointed to the Committee
for Salvation of Youth from Destructive Cults (the Committee)
and the Vologda Regional Center for Rehabilitation of Victims
of Non-Traditional Religions as the sources of hostility.
Andrik noted that ECHR itself recognized in 2003 that "the
Committee," led by Alla Zhavoronkova, is connected to the
ROC. According to Andrik, the Moscow General Prosecutor's
office liquidated "The Moscow Community of Jehovah's
Witnesses" as a legal entity in 2002 in a court case
initiated by a complaint brought by "The Committee." Hansen
openly suggested on February 26 that Patriarch Kirill could
be behind the push, citing Kirill's past statements in
opposition to non-Orthodox Christians and sects, as the JW

MOSCOW 00000546 003 OF 003


have been labeled. Sivulskiy also unveiled his suspicions,
highlighting the surge of activity against JW immediately
after Kirill's enthronement.

Changes in 1997 Law Forthcoming?
--------------


9. (SBU) The recent surge in acts of extremism and
nationalist violence has prompted Russian authorities to
promise increased surveillance, and could lend to
heavy-handed regulation of non-mainstream organizations. On
December 2, a United Russia expert consultative council
recommended the adoption of an anti-extremist project, which
included changes in the Law on Freedom of Conscience and
Religious Organizations. Religious organizations would be
forced to present data about the faith's foundations, the
history of its formation, and the "methodology" of its
activity. Also subject to scrutiny would be the religion's
outlook on family and marriage, health care for its
followers, education, and requirements for membership. The
United Russia bill stated that any changes to an
organization's educational program must be reviewed and
registered by authorities, ostensibly broadening these
authorities' powers for subjective interpretation and
restriction on religious activities.

Comment
--------------


10. (C) The crisis-driven government campaign against
extremism will prod Russian bureaucrats to pick easy targets
as trophies of their efforts. Ella Pamfilova, the newly
re-appointed head of Medvedev,s Council on Promoting the
Development of Civil Society and Human Rights told Ambassador
March 4 that the JW should appeal to Ombudsman Vladimir
Lukin, and that although the Council is not set up to take
complaints, she welcomed them to speak with her and other
members of the council, including representatives from Moscow
Helsinki Group and Memorial, who could also be approached.
The Ambassador plans to raise the issue in an upcoming
meeting with new ROC Patriarch Kirill, to gauge his personal
views and advocate greater tolerance and acceptance. We will
actively engage with our contacts in the Russian government,
human rights community, and religious circles for more
clarity on this issue. End Comment.
BEYRLE