Moscow, Russia - A spokesman for Russia’s highest court says it has upheld a ruling halting the activities of a regional branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses and banning dozens of its publications.
Pavel Odintsov says the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of September’s ruling by a regional court in Rostov-on-Don. That ruling outlawed the group’s activities in the region, seized its assets there and labeled 34 of its publications as extremist.
The group said the list of books includes a children’s book of Bible stories, and its signature magazine, The Watchtower.
A June 2004 ruling by the Moscow City Court upheld a lower court decision earlier that year that prohibited Jehovah’s Witnesses from engaging in religious activity in the Russian capital.