BELGIUM: Jehovah’s Witnesses fined 96,000 euros for inciting hate
The non-profit organization behind the Jehovah’s Witnesses is guilty of inciting discrimination and hatred or violence against ex-members who have left the community. The organization will be fined 96,000 euros, the Ghent criminal court ruled on Tuesday. Originally published on Nieuwsblad on March 16, 2021 A former member of Jehovah’s Witnesses went to the Ghent […]
ARGENTINA: Jehovah’s Witnesses remain silent in a child sexual abuse trial
Elders of a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Santa Elena opted for silence and secrecy in a trial that followed Matías Vargas and Luciano Vito Panza, two members of that religious congregation, accused of aggravated sexual abuse and corruption of minors to the detriment of two young people. Originally published by EntreRíosYA on March 11, […]
SPAIN: Supreme Court says religions cannot keep all personal data of members who leave
Before a request for total deletion of data, a proportional judgment must be made against the right of conservation. Article previously published in Spanish on Confilegal by Irene Casanueva on March 13, 2021 A religious group has the right to keep personal data of a person who leaves the religion when it is necessary for […]
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Right to Vote Prohibited
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny their members the right to vote in democratic election. The leaders demand that all Jehovah’s Witnesses remain neutral. Members who exercise their democratic right to vote are expelled and shunned. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right in a democratic society. We have the right to believe what we want. We have […]
ARGENTINA: Two Jehovah’s Witnesses to be Tried for Alleged Child Sexual Abuse
Originally published on El Argentino on March 1 2021. An oral and public trial will begin in which the defendants Matías Vargas and Vito Luciano Panza will be seated in the dock, to whom the Prosecutor’s Office and the complaint are charged with crimes against sexual integrity to the detriment of two girls from the […]
GERMANY: Should Jehovah’s Witnesses have their KdöR status revoked?
Originally published on Humanistischer Pressedienst by Julius Rupprecht on 16 February 2021 The statements of a cult expert about the practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses are true and therefore permissible. The District Court of Zurich has found that regularly criticized practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses such as the so-called ostracism and the two-witness rule are actually enforced, contrary to […]
GERMANY: State Parliament Commemorates Suffering of Jehovah’s Witnesses by Nazis
Originally published in Stuttgarter Nachrichten on January 27, 2021. Muhterem Aras, the President of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament, paid tribute to the resistance of Jehovah’s Witnesses against National Socialism on Wednesday, January 27th, 2021. She recalled that even then the Jehovah’s Witnesses had described the Nazi ideology as “the rule of the devil on earth”. Stuttgart […]
IRELAND: Jehovah’s Witness Man Jailed for 18 months
On February 18th last, a 34 year-old Jehovah’s Witness man who sent sexually explicit messages to a 13 year-old girl in 2016 has been handed down an 18 month jail term at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. To protect the identify of his victim, the man cannot be named. He met the girl through their […]
BELGIUM: Jehovah’s Witnesses in court to respond to incitement to hatred
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, prosecuted in particular for inciting hatred against former members of this community, will appear before the Ghent Criminal Court on Tuesday. The former Center for Equal Opportunities and the Fight against Racism Unia and about fifteen people have joined as civil parties. Originally published on Le Vif on 16 February 2021. A former […]