Ban of Jehovah's Witnesses Delayed

.c The Associated Press

By NICK WADHAMS

MOSCOW (AP) -- A Moscow judge today delayed a trial on banning Jehovah's
Witnesses from operating in Russia until February, saying prosecutors had not
fully prepared their case.

The trial marks the first time prosecutors have applied Russia's controversial
religion law in court to try to disband religious groups. Prosecutors argue
that the Jehovah's Witnesses destroy families, foster hatred and drive their
members to insanity and suicide.

The trial opened in civil court September but was delayed until Tuesday. In
today's proceedings, defense lawyers asked for a delay because prosecutors
said they had not submitted all their evidence.

The judge sent the case back to prosecutors until Feb. 9.

Prosecutors say the group should be dissolved in Russia and its activities
banned under a religion law passed last year that gives the government the
right to disband any religious group it thinks is inciting hatred or
intolerant behavior.

Western leaders say the law, designed to strengthen the Russian Orthodox
Church and restrict foreign religions and cults that many Russians consider
dangerous, contradicts Russia's constitutional right to freedom of religion.

If banned in Russia, the Jehovah's Witnesses would no longer have the right to
express their beliefs publicly, hold worship services, rent property, or
distribute literature.

In Tuesday's proceedings, prosecutors said the group destroys families because
the Jehovah's Witness practice of not celebrating national holidays creates
rifts between family members, and their general refusal of blood transfusions
threatens lives.

Defense lawyers countered that Jehovah's Witnesses are not forced into the
religion, and stressed that the case violates the Russian Constitution and the
European Convention on Human Rights.

Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be the fifth-largest Christian group in Russia,
with about 10,000 members in Moscow and more than 250,000 across the country.

Russian prosecutors have conducted four separate criminal investigations into
the Jehovah's Witnesses but all were dismissed for lack of evidence, said
Judah Schroeder, spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in New
York. He said this trial is the first time the religion law has been tested in
court.

The case was brought to a civil court, where the rules of evidence are more
lenient than in criminal court.

Russian officials promised they would implement the law leniently, and have
not kicked out all religious groups that haven't been in Russia for more than
15 years, as the law requires.

Still, they have denied return visas to missionaries and pastors under the
law.

AP-NY-11-18-98 1157EST

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