The Jehovah’s Witnesses said on July 18 it would appeal a ban on its activities in Russia at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, saying it had exhausted all other legal channels.
Reuters: Jehovah’s Witnesses vow to appeal Russia ban in European court
People attend the annual Jehovah's Witnesses assembly gathering 30.000 believers on July 22, 2011 in Villepinte, Paris suburb. European rights judges said on June 30, 2011 that France had interfered with the religious freedom of Jehovah's Witnesses in imposing a supplementary tax assessment on gifts by its faithful. The Association of Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that the French government was trying to repress their activities by imposing in 1998 a tax assessment that amounted in total to 45 million euros ($65 million), covering the period from 1993 to 1996. AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND GUAY / AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND GUAY
