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
Jehovah’s Witnesses and body of elders refuse to hand over personal information records as required by law
Of interest in the proceedings was an affidavit from Kevin Knaus, a member of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, who deposed that the teachings and instructions of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as applying to elders, constitute “canon law”.
Judgment summary
Two of the respondents applied, pursuant to s. 23(1) of the Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”), for disclosure of their personal information from two Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations. In response, the congregations withheld certain information on the basis that it was privileged and confidential religious communication.
An adjudicator acting as a delegate of the commissioner under PIPA reviewed the congregations’ decisions to withhold information. She ultimately ordered that the information must be disclosed to her under s. 38(1)(b) of PIPA so that she could determine whether it needed to be provided to the respondents. The adjudicator considered the congregations’ argument that PIPA breached their right to freedom of religion protected in s. 2(a) of the Charter. She found that while ss. 23(1)(a) and 38(1)(b) of PIPA infringed s. 2(a) of the Charter, the infringement was justified under s. 1. On judicial review, the chambers judge dismissed the appellants’ petition, expressing substantial agreement with the reasons of the adjudicator.
Held: Appeal dismissed. The adjudicator erred in finding that ss. 23(1)(a) and 38(1)(b) of PIPA infringed the Charter. Properly interpreted, these provisions empower the commissioner to consider the appellants’ Charter rights in deciding whether to order production of records for the commissioner’s review. To the extent that a production order made under s. 38(1)(b) unjustifiably infringes the Charter rights of an organization, the source of the infringement is the order itself and not the provisions of PIPA. In this case, the production order proportionately balanced the appellants’ Charter rights with statutory objectives, and therefore the decision to issue the order was reasonable.
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
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.
This project was sponsored by JW News and Insight Story.
Please support JW Leaks and JW News
for as little as the cost of a coffee.
Click above and support 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 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 