The Tver District Court of Moscow will rule soon on an appeal filed by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia against aggressive efforts to close their national office. The Prosecutor General’s Office issued a warning, threatening to liquidate the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia for alleged “extremist activity.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses are asking that the court declare the prosecutor’s warning to be unlawful. It constitutes interference in the Witnesses’ religious freedom rights and is based on a deliberate misapplication of Russia’s law on extremist activity.

“We have never engaged in extremist activity,” states Vasiliy Kalin, a representative for the Administrative Center. “We hope that the court will correct this injustice.”