Moscow Court Orders Seizure of Jehovah's Witnesses-Linked Properties Across Russia

A Moscow court has ruled in favor of Russia's Prosecutor General's Office, ordering the immediate seizure of residential and commercial properties linked to foreign organizations affiliated with Jehovah's Witnesses. The decision marks another chapter in the long-running legal campaign against the religious denomination, which Russia outlawed as an extremist organization in 2017.

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Court hammer

Court Sides With Prosecutors

Judge Galina Matlina of Moscow's Kuzminsky District Court delivered the ruling during a hearing on July 31, granting the Prosecutor General's request in full.

"The decision is subject to immediate enforcement," Judge Matlina said as she announced the verdict, according to an RBC correspondent in the courtroom.

Representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Justice attended the hearing, with the ministry fully supporting the claim. None of the defendants or their legal representatives appeared in court.

Diplomatic observers from the embassies of Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands also attended the proceedings. One of the observers told RBC that they were present solely to monitor the hearing and would not comment on the case.

Prosecutors Challenge Property Transfers

The lawsuit named eight foreign organizations affiliated with Jehovah's Witnesses as defendants. Prosecutors sought the confiscation of residential and commercial properties across several Russian regions with a combined area exceeding 11,000 square meters.

The defendants include religious organizations and foundations registered in Austria, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden, as well as the denomination's World Headquarters in the United States. Russia's Ministry of Justice participated in the case as a third party.

The Prosecutor General's Office also asked the court to invalidate dozens of donation and property transfer agreements signed in 2016 and 2017 between Russian Jehovah's Witnesses organizations and affiliated foreign entities.

According to prosecutors, the transactions aimed to move assets beyond the state's reach before Russian authorities dissolved the organization and transferred its remaining property to state ownership.

In 2017, Russia's Supreme Court granted the Ministry of Justice's request to designate the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and its regional organizations as extremist, ordered their liquidation and transferred their remaining assets to the state.

The ruling drew criticism from several countries, including the United States, which questioned Russia's treatment of the religious group.