Da war ich eine Woche weg, und schon passiert wieder etwas in der Welt, diesmal in Russland.

Die gute Nachricht: ein Zeuge Jehovas, der angeklagt war, "extremistische Literatur" zu verbreiten, wurde freigesprochen. "Extremistisch" war die Religion anscheinend deshalb, da sie den Glauben der Zeugen Jehovas als "wahr" beschrieb.

Folgendes amüsante Detail will ich nicht unterschlagen (meine Übersetzung):

Kalistratov's lawyer read from a Russian Orthodox catechism that described other religions as being "from the devil," and said that if the same logic that prosecutors applied to his case were applied to such literature, thousands or even millions of Russian Orthodox believers would have to be put on trial.

Kalistratovs Anwalt las aus einem Katechismus der Russisch-Orthodoxen Kirche, der andere Religionen als "vom Teufel stammend" beschrieb, und sagte, dass wenn man die gleiche Argumentation bei diesem Buch verwendet wie die Anklage im vorliegenden Fall, dann tausende oder sogar Millionen Russisch-Orthodoxe Gläubige angeklagt werden müssten.

Und hier noch die Pressemitteilung der Wachtturmgesellschaft (auf Englisch):

GORNO-ALTAYSK, Russia—The Gorno-Altaysk City Court just concluded a trial with profound implications for freedom of expression and religious belief in Russia. Judge Marina Sokolovskaya has issued a not-guilty verdict in the criminal case against Aleksandr Kalistratov, who is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The case was the first of its kind in Russia. Mr. Kalistratov was charged with inciting religious hatred or enmity; however, not one of the 71 witnesses in the case could testify that Kalistratov was guilty. Additionally, no evidence was produced during the six-month trial that substantiated the charge. Viktor Zhenkov, one of Mr. Kalistratov’s defense attorneys, stated: “It is unmistakably clear that Aleksandr Kalistratov committed no crime. Today’s ruling proves that the charges against Kalistratov and other Jehovah’s Witnesses in Gorno-Altaysk are totally without proper basis. These charges are really a misapplication of the extremist law.”

When asked for his reaction to the verdict, Mr. Kalistratov responded: “I am grateful for the courageous stand that the judge took in issuing such a decision. I just hope that the ruling will be helpful to many of my fellow believers who continue to be prosecuted in Russia. It would be sad for other innocent Russian citizens to be subjected to illegal surveillance merely out of religious intolerance.”

More than 7,500,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses in over 230 lands have been watching the developments in this case with keen interest. “Our fellow worshippers around the world and other observers of this case are rejoicing that the court confirmed that Kalistratov is innocent,” states Vasily Kalin, Chairman of the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. “This victory is a major step forward in the protection of freedom of worship.”

Today’s verdict is in harmony with the unanimous judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on June 10, 2010, which noted that Russian courts had clearly violated the rights of the Moscow Community of Jehovah’s Witnesses. That judgment states that the Russian government “has a legal obligation . . . to put an end to the violation found by the Court and to redress as far as possible the effects.”