Russian authorities have taken another bold step in an aggressive, government-sponsored campaign against Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Prosecutor General’s Office is threatening to liquidate the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia for alleged “extremist activity.” In a warning letter dated March 2, 2016, Deputy Prosecutor General V. Ya. Grin demanded that the Center eliminate all “violations” within two months.

The warning greatly escalates Russia’s campaign to marginalize the Witnesses and restrict their religious freedom. If liquidated, the Administrative Center will be closed, it will be added to the federal list of extremist organizations, and its property will be turned over to the State. Because of their affiliation with the Center, all religious associations of Jehovah’s Witnesses—406 local religious organizations (legal entities) and over 2,500 congregations—may also face liquidation. As a result, Witnesses throughout Russia could lose their Kingdom Halls (houses of worship). Ultimately, liquidation of the Administrative Center could deprive the Witnesses of their right to practice their religious beliefs.

INFOGRAPHIC: Russia’s Systematic Attack on Religious Freedom Download in English

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Russia’s systematic attack against Jehovah’s Witnesses is based on fabricated evidence and a deliberate misapplication of the Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity. In 2015, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern “about numerous reports indicating that the law [on Extremist Activity] is increasingly used to curtail freedom of expression . . . and freedom of religion, targeting, inter alia, Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses are an established, international religion. They enjoy religious freedom in democratic countries around the world and in all member states of the European Union. Russia is an exception. Its campaign targeting the peaceful worship of the Witnesses has progressed incrementally through a series of steps that began in the mid-1990’s. These efforts dramatically accelerated after Russia adopted legislation on extremism and misused it as a tool of repression.