Jehovah’s Witness vows to appeal its ban

Jehovah Witnesses has vowed to appeal a ban on its activities in Russia at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The organisation said it had exhausted all other legal channels.

Russia’s Supreme Court had banned the church from the country after finding the group to be extremist organization.

Before the verdict, four former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses had told a Russia’s Supreme Court how they were brainwashed by the church against receiving higher education or starting a family.

The Christian organization was reacting a day after Russia’s Supreme Court rejected its appeal and upheld the earlier ruling which declared the organisation “extremist” and ordered it to disband in Russia.

“We plan to appeal this at the European Court of Human Rights as soon as we can,” Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a member of the European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, said.

“All legal avenues inside Russia have been exhausted.”

Sivulskiy said Jehovah Witnesses strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling against it, but had no option but to comply.