Nabokikh and Others v Russia [2023] ECHR 97 was about the disruption of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ religious meetings.

Background

The applicants organised or participated in religious assemblies held on the premises which they owned or rented specifically for that purpose [1]. In all the cases, the religious assemblies were disrupted by the police. In some cases, the reason for the disruption was that the meetings were being conducted without prior notification and the police ordered the meetings to stop or stayed on the premises to take photos and make video recording of the events, checked the documents and questioned the organisers and participants [2]. In others, the police disrupted the meetings to search the premises where they were being held [3]. The searches had been ordered in the framework of criminal proceedings against unidentified individuals suspected of involvement in extremist activities. Continue reading →