Jehovah’s Witnesses Stonewalled By Bureaucracy in Transdniestria

Although active proselytizing by Jehovah’s Witnesses is freely taking place all over Transdniestria, official registration of the religion has been hampered by difficulties in some parts of the country, believers say.

Two Jehovah’s Witnesses communities - in Tiraspol and Rybnitsa - have already gotten registration, but two others don’t. The registration applications for Grigoriopol and Bender, Transdniestria’s second largest city, were lodged in 2006 but have not yet been successfully processed. A spokesman for one of the local communities suspects the PMR government of stonewalling and went to court to sue the government.

” - The Religious Affairs Office refused to give its conclusion about these applications, so we went to court,” a Jehovah’s Witness was reported by Forum 18 News Service as saying. “But after the Religion Law changed, these cases became irrelevant. They still refuse to register us.”

Lack of registration causes difficulties

Although no Jehovah’s Witnesses have ever been fined or arrested in Transdniestria, the lack of registration is causing concern among followers. It has also given rise to petty harassment from local law enforcement and critics who accuse the group of holding religious meetings without officially being registered to do so.

Article 200 of Transdniestria’s Administrative Code sanctions the failure to register a religious community, but Transdniestria’s Supreme Court has already ruled that registration is not needed to be allowed to hold religious meetings.

Last week, on May 8, a case against Jehovah’s Witness Vyacheslav Radulov was dismissed by Judge Osovskaya of the Bender City Court on grounds that no registration or prior permits are needed for religious meetings to be held anywhere in Transdniestria (officially: Pridnestrovie).

This contrasts with Moldova where registration is required before believers of any religion are allowed to meet, even in cases where they meet in private homes as Jehovah’s Witnesses often do. (With information from Forum 18)

Source tiraspoltimes.com

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