Kuznetsov v. Russia: ECHR ruled in favor of disabled Jehovah’s Witnesses from Chelyabinsk, Russia

January 11, 2007 (Moscow, Russia) – The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued a judgment in favor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious community from Chelyabinsk. The court declared that the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rights to freedom of religion, freedom of association and fair trial were violated by the disruption of their prayer meeting by the authorities, termination of their lease contract, and subsequent failure by the domestic courts to deal with their case impartially and in accordance with the law.

The Strasbourg court ruled that the Russian Federation is to pay 30,000 EUR in compensation for non-pecuniary damage incurred by the applicants and 60,544 EUR in compensation of legal costs and expenses.

On April 16, 2000, the Chairman of the Regional Human Rights Commission Ekaterina Gorina, accompanied by the police officers, unceremoniously broke in and attempted to disrupt a meeting of a Jehovah's Witnesses group. This particular community included people suffering from different degrees of deafness.

Subsequently, under pressure from the authorities, on April 17, 200, the Director of a College where the Jehovah’s Witnesses rented premises informed the community that the lease agreement between the college and the community was to be terminated due to some “irregularities” allegedly committed by the college administration at the date of entering into the agreement. The Prosecutor refused to institute criminal proceedings against the officials. During the civil proceedings initiated by the Jehovah's Witnesses, the community was repeatedly labeled a "totalitarian cult," which gives a clear indication of the bias against them.

The application, filed with the European Court by a representative of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Administrative Centre in Russia, Konstantin Kuznetsov, and 102 members of the Chelyabinsk community, was declared admissible by the Court on September 9, 2004.

The European Court judgment has marked the second landmark victory for believers in Russia. On October 5, 2006, ECHR had granted the very first application filed by a Russian religious organization, a local branch of the Salvation Army, by ruling that the authorities unlawfully refused to re-register the applicant branch. SCLJ lawyers represented the applicant branch’s interests before the Russian and the European Court. The judgment says that the Court unanimously recognized the violation of Art. 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention and Art. 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) in relation to the Moscow Branch of the Salvation Army.

“We welcome the second judgment of the European Court which, alongside with the Salvation Army judgment, once again unequivocally upholds the rights of Russian believers to associate and worship free from interference by the state authorities,” stated SCLJ directors, Anatoly Pchelintsev and Vladimir Ryakhovsky.