Jehovah's Witnesses may win chaplains in French jails

Paris, France - France currently regards the millenarian Christian group as a sect and not a bona fide religion. So prisoners who subscribe to its beliefs do not have the right to see a minister of their choice.

But all 15 cases brought by prisoners contesting the rule have won their cases, according to the Direct Matin freesheet.

The most recent, an inmate of the Muret prison in south-west France won 3,000 euros in compensation because he was not allowed to see a Jehovah’s Witness minister.

Lawyers representing several Jehovah’s Witnesses announced Thursday that a Paris appeal court will rule on their case on 30 May.

The group, which claims to have seven million adepts worldwide, believes that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent and that God's kingdom must be established on earth.

The ruling may never be made if California radio host Harold Camping proves correct. He predicts that the Rapture - when the righteous are taken up to heaven and the world is hit by disasters ahead of a later day of damnation - will take place on 21 May.