A former Jehovah’s Witnesses member has been awarded a judgment in the sum of $,1,495,395 against the defendant (her father). Part of the plaintiff’s claim included $144,000 for interest on past general and aggravated damages.
JW LEAKS has conducted a review of the judgment with a focus on many of the plaintiff’s non-offence claims, as presented to the Supreme Court.
These claims were then compared with documents, evidence and records:
that the plaintiff BDS2 had previously supplied to JW LEAKS; or
that had been used by, or in relation to, the plaintiff BDS2 in other legal proceedings within Australia; or
that had been published by the plaintiff BDS2 on social media platforms, including in YouTube interviews, and then later removed; or
that the plaintiff BDS2 had verbally told to JW LEAKS.
In our opinion there is clear evidence that the plaintiff BDS2 misled the Supreme Court as to factual matters in the proceedings.
In our opinion some of the material relied upon by the Supreme Court, including in awarding monetary amounts, were based on false information presented by BDS2 to the court.
There is absolutely no suggestion or inference that R. Royle of counsel, or Wyatt Lawyers & Advisors (solicitors), knowingly presented false or misleading information to the Supreme Court.
A publication restriction order is in place within Australia that prevents publication of the parties names and any information tending to reveal their identity. Our hands are tied in going public with the evidence.
About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
On September 3, 2024, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania commenced civil proceedings in the United States District Court against The Russian Federation, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, and the Federal State Budgetary Institution over the seizure of real estate property in Russia, namely the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
According to the filings, Watch Tower Society alleges:
[EXTRACT FROM COMPLAINT]
1. This action arises out of, and seeks a remedy for, (1) Russia’s unlawful expropriation of Watch Tower’s property, as well as (2) the direct harms Russia has caused Watch Tower to suffer in the United States through its commercial activities since that expropriation. The facts giving rise to this case, however, are part of a broader, documented, and widely condemned campaign of discrimination and persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the Russian Federation. Currently there are 137 Jehovah’s Witnesses (men and women, ages 27-73) incarcerated in Russia for terms spanning two months to eight years due to their religious activity.
2. “Jehovah’s Witnesses have been present in Russia since 1891. They were banned after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and criminally prosecuted for practising their faith in the USSR.”
3. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, and after nearly a century of persecution, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia were able to openly practice their faith. Subsequently, Watch Tower (a charitable organization) established a public presence in Russia by, among other things, obtaining title to real property in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the purpose of facilitating the peaceful and lawful religious activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
4. Tragically, the ability of Jehovah’s Witnesses to freely and openly worship in Russia was cut short. Since at least 2007, the Russian Federation has undertaken a coordinated, deliberate, and sustained campaign of disinformation, discrimination, and persecution of Watch Tower and Jehovah’s Witnesses. This attack campaign culminated in Russia’s illegal seizure of Watch Tower’s property and its ongoing occupation by the Ministry of Health and Almazov.
5. As discussed herein, given Russia’s brazen and illegal conduct, and the direct effects of that illegal activity in the United States, this Court has both subject matter and personal jurisdiction over the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Health, and Almazov pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330, 1602 et seq. (“FSIA”). To remedy the harms suffered, Watch Tower respectfully requests that it be awarded compensatory damages from Defendants and that punitive damages be awarded against Almazov for its outrageous, intentional, and unlawful conduct.
C. The Bethel Facility in Russia
25. In the early 1990’s, with Watch Tower’s assistance, the Administrative Centre purchased and renovated a complex of buildings in St. Petersburg, Russia. This “Bethel Facility”—known to Jehovah’s Witnesses as “Bethel” (from the Hebrew word meaning “House of God”)—is located at the following address: 197739 St. Petersburg, pos. Solnechnoye, ul. Srednyaya, d. 6.
26. Until 2017, when the Russian Federation stole the Bethel Facility, this property served as a place of worship and the national headquarters for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. At all relevant times, the Bethel Facility was used by Jehovah’s Witnesses to support the practice of their faith. It was staffed by approximately 300 full-time ministers of Jehovah’s Witnesses, all members of a religious order, who lived and worked at that facility as part of their religious calling.
27. Throughout the 1990s, the Administrative Centre owned and maintained the Bethel Facility. Eventually, though, the Administrative Centre became interested in transferring ownership of the Bethel Facility to Watch Tower, whose global mission is to support the worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide.
28. In connection with this property transfer, Watch Tower registered as a foreign legal entity with the Russian Federation’s State Revenue Inspectorate in June 2000. See Exhibit B. As a registered foreign legal entity, Watch Tower was required to pay land and property taxes in Russia, unlike the Administrative Centre, a Russian religious entity, that was tax exempt.
29. On March 1, 2000, the Administrative Centre executed a Gift Contract that transferred to Watch Tower ownership and title of the real property, including ten buildings, then comprising the Bethel Facility.
…
35. On September 17, 2010, the Administrative Centre executed a second Gift Contract that transferred to Watch Tower ownership and title of additional buildings and plots of land, all of which were subsequently subsumed within Watch Tower’s Bethel Facility.
36. On July 28, 2011, Watch Tower and the Administrative Centre executed a contract permitting the Administrative Centre to continue using the additional buildings and land that had been transferred to Watch Tower and added to the Bethel Facility.
…
98. The Bethel Facility, which the Russian Federation stole from Watch Tower in violation of international law, is now being used by the Russian Federation to generate income that in turn, as part of its general revenues, is being exchanged for property now present in the United States in connection with commercial activity carried on in the United States by the Russian Federation. The property exchanged for the property that the Russian Federation stole from Watch Tower is present in the United States in connection with commercial activities carried on in the United States by the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Health
99. The Russian Federation stole the Bethel Facility from Watch Tower.
…
110. Therefore, Russia’s taking of the Bethel Facility constituted an unlawful expropriation by a state against a non-citizen without just compensation, thus violating international law.
111. Accordingly, Defendants are liable to Plaintiff for the expropriation of the Bethel Facility.
…
132. Each Defendant had actual knowledge and/or was generally aware of the wrongful conduct of the other Defendants, and was generally aware of the role that the other Defendants and it were playing in their unlawful conduct toward Watch Tower.
133. As a result of the foregoing, in the alternative to its other claims, Plaintiff asserts that it is entitled to a substantial award of damages, in an amount to be proved at trial.
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About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
The below photo image, as shared with JW Leaks, was recently taken from a computer believed to belong to a person who is part of a group of individuals that are attacking and trying to undermine the findings and credibility of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, by spreading disinformation.
LATEST UPDATE (April 29, 2024) | JW Leaks thanks all who assisted over the past two weeks in identifying the primary source of the disinformation campaign attacking the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The individual, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness who describes herself as a “celebrity”, is a police-registered ‘stalker’ and is the subject of numerous current court orders against her relating to this sort of conduct.
JW Leaks are also in receipt of a video in which this ‘stalker’ discusses in detail, key aspects of her disinformation campaign, including the exact false information that has been circulating on the internet about Volume 5, Private sessions of the Final Report of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Material in the video, as shared by the ‘stalker’ via YouTube, was subject to a ‘do-not-publish’ court order. The video has now been referred to the police for investigation.
This ‘stalker’ has also been identified as the exact same person that members and supporters of the Say Sorry website were forced to take a stalking intervention court order against. This is discussed in the article linked below.
PREVIOUS UPDATE (April 18, 2024) | A special thanks from JW Leaks to everyone who sent in messages identifying a potential owner of the computer database “BEASTZILLA” as depicted in the below image (Item 1 in red). The person will be contacted and asked to assist in identifying the primary person/s behind the disinformation campaign and attacks on the royal commission.
Photo image of computer screen belonging to person publishing disinformation
Can you identify the computer and the image? If so, we need your help. Why?
Someone has launched a disinformation campaign claiming that the Final Report of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, namely Volume 5, Private sessions, has been edited by the Royal Commission and reduced to only six pages.
Further information obtained by JW Leaks points to a concerted effort by a number of persons to potentially ‘destroy’ the findings and credibility of the Royal Commission, not only those findings against the Watchtower Society and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also the findings of the entire Final Report against all institutions named.
The primary target for the disinformation campaign appears to be the ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses community and survivors of childhood sexual abuse from out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses institution.
The information being privately spread via social media is completely false.
The full contents of Volume 5, Private sessions are, and have always been available, on the official Child Abuse Royal Commission website. See download link below:
Item 1 (in red), as circled on the above computer screen image, identifies that the disinformation document is on a private computer and not on the official Child Abuse Royal Commission website.
Item 2 (in red), as circled on the above computer screen image, identifies that the document on this private computer is only six pages in size. Volume 5, as available on the Child Abuse Royal Commission website is 467 pages in total.
Item 3 (in red), as circled on the above computer screen image, contains the name of the report that the person publishing the disinformation is trying to claim the document is a full copy of.
Further, according to sources, the person/s behind the disinformation campaign are also falsely claiming that the Child Abuse Royal Commission removed the online private session narratives from the official government website. This claim is completely false. The private session narratives, including those about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are still published as an online appendix on the official Child Abuse Royal Commission website. See download link below.
Home Page of Royal Commission website showing Private Sessions link.
Disinformation and the harm it causes
The publishing and spreading of disinformation, especially about the findings and Final Report process of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is not only insidious but is highly offensive and damaging to all survivors of child sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses institution and the Australian community.
There is no rationale or excuse to publish such disinformation. Perpetrators of this type of conduct need to be held to account and need to be called out.
If you have information on who these persons are, or can assist further in investigating this matter, please contact JW Leaks via the below email so that appropriate action can be taken; including, where appropriate, referral to the Office of the Attorney General of Australia and the Australian Federal Police.
JW LEAKS
_____________________________________
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Please support JW News for as little as the cost of a coffee
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About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
The 2024 Governing Body Update #2, published on 15 March 2024, announced new doctrinal changes in the way serious wrongdoing (i.e. “sins”), especially those committed by children, will be handled by the elders.
An unshaven Mark Sanderson, member of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. 2024.
A new management document published for elders
A new five-page document entitled Adjustments to Handling Serious Wrongdoing in the Congregation (form S-395) has been released to all elders by the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Under the subheading “What if a baptized minor (under 18 years of age) becomes involved in serious wrongdoing?” the new policy – through careful wording in paragraphs 8-11 – appears to attempt to insert and place the congregation and corporate liability for the discipline and disfellowshipping of children onto the parent(s) or legal guardian(s).
Paragraph 8 of the new policy states that “[t]he elders will exercise patience as they work with the parent’s to understand the minor’s attitude”.
Parents do not have the responsibility to shepherd the flock – the congregation. Parents are not provided with a copy of the elders manual “Shepherd the Flock of God”. Parents are not provided with a copy of this new policy. Without this crucial information parents may not be in a position to make an informed decision in this matter, and may not even be aware that they have become a party to the inquisition of a child.
Interestingly, no mention is made if the child is only “alleged” to have become involved in serious wrongdoing. These polices only apply once the elders have determined that the child has become involved in serious wrongdoing. Of concern in these new procedures is that the elder’s are instructed to bring the parent(s) or guardian(s) into the congregational inquisition and discipline of the child, not the investigation into whether ‘serious wrongdoing’ has been committed.
To further show the disregard and utter contempt the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses have towards children, the elders are only to inform “Christian parent(s) or legal guardian(s)”.
Evidently the natural right to justice, the scriptural right to justice, and the rights of a child (human rights) do not come into consideration when the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses turn their attention to publicly disciplining children who are baptised members of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and whose parents are not members or are disfellowshipped.
This new policy is nothing more than the doubling-down of existing harsh and cruel policies, compounded by the insidious targeting of children through their parents to their ongoing harm and detriment. An organisation that refuses to acknowledge the existence of children within its institution cannot produce a new policy for the betterment of children, they can only make bad policies worse.
Note what paragraphs 8-11 of the new policy states:
8. When a baptized minor becomes involved in serious wrongdoing, two elders (not a committee) will meet with him along with his Christian parent(s) or legal guardian(s). The elders will exercise patience as they work with the parents to understand the minor’s attitude. They will also find out what steps the parents have taken to assist their child.
9. If the minor has a good attitude and the parents have the matter in hand, the two elders may determine that it is not necessary for the minor and his Christian parent(s) or legal guardian(s) to meet with a committee. The elders will check with the parents periodically to ensure that the minor is receiving needed spiritual assistance.
10. If the minor’s wrongdoing is widely known or likely to become known, the following brief announcement may be made to the congregation: “A matter involving [name of person] has been handled by the elders.” Also, the two elders may impose some temporary restrictions, such as not commenting at meetings and not caring for student assignments on the midweek meeting. As the individual makes a spiritual recovery, the temporary restrictions should be removed by the two elders without delay.
11. If the minor persists in a wrong course despite the assistance offered by two elders and his Christian parent(s) or legal guardian(s), a committee will meet with the minor and his Christian parent(s) or legal guardian(s). If the minor is unrepentant, he would be removed from the congregation.
Evidently, the ‘light gets brighter’. Or maybe the Watch Tower Society and the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses have colluded to set up the parents so as to blame them in the future for any emotional or psychological damage the child is subjected to, including shunning and social ostracism, by the congregation.
JW LEAKS
_____________________________________
JW Leaks receives ongoing support and funding via JW News.
Please support JW News for as little as the cost of a coffee
Click above and support JW News for the cost of a coffee
About JW Leaks
JW Leaks is about openness, transparency and accountability within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
JW Leaks shines a light on, and holds to account, the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, or that cause religious harm to sections of the community.
Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879
JW LEAKS 