Jehovah’s Witnesses

by Massimo Introvigne — The European Court of Human Rights has delivered a judgment that reshapes the relationship between the Italian State and minority religions. On 11 June 2026, the Court unanimously held that Italy discriminated against the association representing Jehovah’s Witnesses in Italy, by keeping them outside the system of agreements known as intese. These agreements are the gateway to the country’s main religious funding mechanism, the “eight per thousand,” which allows taxpayers to choose religious bodies that receive 0.8% of their taxes.

On 29 April 2026, the Norwegian Supreme Court quashed the ruling that had revoked the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ registration and their consequent access to state funding.

The Court also emphasised that the threshold for denying access to state funding and registration is high, and that Article 6 of the Norwegian Act on Religious Communities must be interpreted in the light of the autonomy of religious communities enshrined in Article 9 of the ECHR, read in conjunction with Article 11.

By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers — At the beginning of April, various parties publicly expressed, with complete impunity, their strong opposition to the freedom of worship and assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses wishing to publicly commemorate their annual “Memorial of Jesus’ death” in various towns across France, which corresponds to the Catholic celebration of Easter.

Forum 18 (14.11.2025) - The criminal investigation into four police officers who tortured and threatened to murder Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev in the southern town of Kentau on 13 August appears to be at a standstill. An official of Kentau Prosecutor's Office – which a court had to order to begin an investigation – insists that it cannot proceed until Tursynbayev makes his statement about the torture in person in Kentau.

By Massimo Introvigne — The Czech Ministry of Culture has announced it will not proceed with administrative dissolution proceedings against the local Religious Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The announcement comes after months of scrutiny, public debate, and a flood of documentation submitted by the Witnesses, culminating in what can only be described as a resounding victory for freedom of belief.

HRWF (23.09.2025) – “CAP Liberté de conscience and Human Rights Without Frontiers are deeply concerned about the fact that chaplaincy activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in a number of Belgian prisons are in practice not allowed any more. Since 2019, Jehovah’s Witnesses have written six times to the Minister of Justice and have initiated legal proceedings due to this discrimination experienced in four Belgian prisons: Nivelles, Leuze, Dinant, and Leuven Central.

by Willy Fautre — On 26 August, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case Erikas Rutkauskas v. Lithuania that the religious freedom of a religious minister of Jehovah’s Witnesses had been violated for failing to give him access to a civilian service replacing military service. This is the second time in recent years that Lithuania has lost a similar case in Strasbourg. In June 2022, the court ruled in favour of another Jehovah’s Witness minister, Lithuanian citizen Stanislav Teliatnikov, who was living in Turkey at the time. He also refused military service in 2015 on religious grounds and sought an alternative.

As the fratricidal war in Ukraine continues, so does the war between Russia and Jehovah's Witnesses. The two events are not comparable, on the one hand you die, on the other you go to jail. But in the long run, the latter proves more dangerous and harmful, because what is dying is freedom of belief, the freedom to be what one wants to be, and this would be the end of all individuality and all freedom.

In Italy, but unfortunately not only there, there is an ongoing emergency: a virus that was thought to have been permanently eradicated back in the early 1980s has made a comeback. It is again circulating and being transmitted by communicating, exchanging ideas, changing one's point of view and embracing new life experiences. It is the “virus of mental manipulation”. It seems that the only vaccine that can stop this alarming phenomenon is a law to control and limit the freedom to change one's opinion about someone or something.

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) published an annual report which calls to release all prisoners of conscience in Ukraine, including those detained on Russia-occupied territories and those who suffered abuses because of harsh military mobilization for Ukrainian defensive war against Russian aggression. The report outlines 15 names of conscientious objectors that must be immediately released by Ukraine, including those imprisoned after conviction and held in pre-trial detention under Articles 336 (draft evasion) and 402 (disobedience) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and those detained in military units ...

UCA News — Sri Lanka’sSupreme Court has ordered the state to compensate four Christians for violating their fundamental rights, ten years after police arrested them for preaching the Christian faith door-to-door. The Supreme Court, on May 22, ordered the officer-in-charge of the police station in Walasmulla town to pay 50,000 rupees (some US$165) to each of the petitioners, and the state to pay an additional 25,000 rupees to each one for breaching their fundamental rights.

By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers — Jehovah’s Witnesses are not allowed any more to provide spiritual assistance to inmates upon their request due to new regulations issued by the Director General of the Penitentiary Administration. On 22 August 2023, he  sent a circular letter instructing prison administrations across Belgium to prohibit access to ministers of non-recognised religions for chaplaincy activities.

The saga of the MIVILUDES (Mission Interministerielle de Vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectarie) continues. Despite being ‘slapped down’ by the Paris Administrative Court, which ordered MIVILUDES in a ruling on 21 February 2025 to correct its publications due to ‘inaccurate or unverified information’, on 8 April 2025 – only a month and a half later – it published its new annual report in line with its modus operandi of stuffing the reported news with inaccurate or unverified information.

We welcome the news that the Thai Ministry of National Defence has promoted a study to allow exemption from reserve military service for conscientious objectors. Once again, the initiative takes its cue from the firm position of a Jehovah's Witness who is faithful to his beliefs.

By Willy Fautré (HRWF) — On Friday 14 March, the Borgarting Court of Appeal issued a landmark judgment declaring the loss of registration and denial of state grants for the years 2021-2024 invalid.

It unanimously concluded that the practice of social distancing does not expose children to psychological violence or negative social control. Furthermore, the Court found that their practice is in harmony with the Faith Communities Act and in compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

We publish the following study by Professor Emeritus in Sociology at Oxford University, Bryan Ronald Wilson (1926-2004), on the subject of apostates and the New Religious Movements. “As instances have indicated,” Wilson writes, “he [the apostate, ed.] is likely to be suggestible and ready to enlarge or embellish his grievances to satisfy the species of journalist whose interest is more in sensational copy than in a objective statement of truth.”

In the wake of the ongoing anti-cult campaigns featuring so-called “defectors” – or apostates – we repost the article “The Defector's Syndrome” signed by FOB counsel Fabrizio d'Agostini. The occasion comes to us from Zona Bianca, the TV program that is treating the issue of religious minorities with a questionable approach. In fact, the narration of the life of and in the targeted religious communities (Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.

A TV show offers a perfect example of how “not” to deal with the issue of religious minorities.

In this month of February, the Italian TV show “Zona Bianca” (“White Zone”) aired episodes devoted to Jehovah’s Witnesses that represent, in our opinion, a textbook example of how TV journalism should “not” deal with the very sensitive topic of religious minorities.

Letter to the authorities of the Czech Republic about the announced liquidation of Jehovah’s Witnesses

This letter was sent (in Czech) to

by Massimo Introvigne — When Petr Pavel was inaugurated as the new President of the Czech Republic in March 2023, he vowed to align the country with European Union human rights standards. He also emerged as a staunch critic of the human rights violations in Russia. Some developments with respect to small minority religions were in fact regarded by local human rights activists as hopeful.