The Prosecutor General's Office has filed a lawsuit with the Kuzminsky District Court of Moscow against Jehovah's Witnesses, demanding the nationalization of property transferred to foreign entities. The first hearing in the case took place on July 31.
The defendants in the lawsuit are religious organizations and foundations registered in Austria, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden, as well as the Worldwide Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States.
The prosecutor's office is challenging dozens of donation and gift contracts concluded between 2016 and 2017 between the Russian center of the religious organization and foreign structures. According to RBC, citing sources, the supervisory body believes the deals were aimed at moving assets out of Russia after the organization's liquidation.
The lawsuit mentions 123 real estate properties: 63 residential and commercial properties with a total area of over 11,000 square meters, and 60 land plots covering 5.6 hectares. They are located in Moscow, the Moscow region, the Leningrad region, the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, and other regions.
In 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia as an extremist organization and banned its activities in the country. Courts have previously considered similar lawsuits: in the fall of 2024, in the Novosibirsk region, property and a land plot belonging to Jehovah's Witnesses in Norway were turned over to the state.
Mediazona, TV Rain, and The Insider, all citing RBC, reported the lawsuit, with each outlet providing the same figures—123 real estate properties and 60 land plots—but none of them have obtained official comments from the parties on the substance of the claim.