On April 6, 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia began considering the merits of the claim of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on the recognition of the “Management Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” as an extremist organization. "The court ruled (.) that Russia must take all necessary measures to stop the criminal prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses and release those who are in custody," the ECHR said in a statement. A violation of article 5 of the Convention (right to personal integrity) was also found. The Strasbourg Court has decided on 20 combined complaints of 1,444 applicants-organizations, individual participants of “Jehovah's Witnesses”-and found a violation on the part of the authorities of the Russian Federation against the defendants, including in connection with the liquidation of the “Management Center of Jehovah's Witnesses”, Article 9 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (freedom of thought, conscience and religion), articles 10 (freedom of expression), articles 11 (freedom of assembly). The Jehovah’s Witnesses is banned in the Russian Federation as an extremist organization. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regards Russia’s ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses as a violation of the Convention on Human Rights, reports Interfax Religion. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, which is based in New York and is the worldwide governing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Trustees of the Barry Congregation - the congregation of which the woman was a member - did not accept that they were vicariously liable.īut Mr Justice Chamberlain concluded that her psychiatric injuries were attributable to the rape.Russland: ECHR rules on complaints by Russia’s Jehovah's Witnesses She said a "proper" internal inquiry had not been carried out and said leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses were "vicariously liable". The woman, who is no longer a Jehovah's Witness, said she suffered depression as a result of the rape. Mr Justice Chamberlain heard that a "judicial committee" of Jehovah's Witnesses' elders had, in 1991, found the woman's allegations against Sewell "not proven" at an internal inquiry.īut more than 20 years later, Sewell was investigated by police.įollowing a trial in 2014, he was convicted of rape and indecent assault and given a 14-year prison sentence. "She claimed that they were responsible in law, or 'vicariously liable', for the rape, because of the nature of their relationship with Mr Sewell and because of the connection between that relationship and the commission of the rape." Elder sentenced to 14 years in prison "In 2017, Mrs B brought a claim for damages against the worldwide governing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Pennsylvania, and the Trustees of the (Barry) Congregation," said the justices in the summary of their ruling. They said Sewell had been convicted of raping Mrs B - and of indecently assaulting two other people. He had raped her after they had been out "evangelising together", justices said. The justices have not named the woman - who is referred to as "Mrs B" in the ruling - and said she could not be identified in media reports of the case.īut they have named the man who raped her as Mark Sewell. In a summary of their ruling after a hearing in February to consider the arguments, the five justices - who unanimously allowed the appeal - concluded that the "Jehovah's Witness organisation is not vicariously liable for the rape", as the man did not commit rape while carrying out any activities as an elder. The High Court awarded the woman £62,000 in "general damages" in early 2020, with the Court of Appeal upholding the decision.īut Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, part of the Jehovah's Witness organisation, asked the Supreme Court to consider the case. Judges at the High Court and Court of Appeal ruled in the woman's favour after she claimed that Jehovah's Witness leaders were "responsible in law" for the rape. The woman had sued the organisation for damages after she was sexually assaulted more than 30 years ago when she went door-to-door evangelising in Wales. Jehovah's Witness leaders have won an appeal in the Supreme Court after judges ruled they were not "vicariously liable" for the rape of a woman by a church elder.
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