On December 7, 2017, at 2:00 p.m., the Sestroretsky District Court of St. Petersburg will begin consideration of a lawsuit filed by the prosecutor's office aimed at seizing a large real estate complex in St. Petersburg from a foreign organization, the Pennsylvania Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
We are talking about 14 buildings with an area of 33 thousand square meters, located on 10 hectares of landscaped territory in the village of Solnechnoye, Kurortny district of St. Petersburg. The complex has been openly owned since 2000 by the Watch Tower Society, an association that has been active since 1884 and serves the interests of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the world.
The Russian Federation did not finance the construction of the complex. The abandoned pioneer camp was purchased commercially by Jehovah's Witnesses from a Russian company. The ownership of this complex, owned by the Watch Tower Society, was officially registered by the authorized bodies of the Russian Federation and was not disputed by anyone for 17 years. Over the years, the Watch Tower Society, as the owner of real estate, has transferred tens of millions of rubles in taxes to the Russian budget.
Contrary to official statements about the inviolability of private property in the Russian Federation, the prosecutor's office by its actions damages the country's business reputation. No one can feel protected in a state in which the property rights of even foreign associations of international scale are openly violated.
The hearing, chaired by Judge N.L. Bogdanova, will be held on December 7 at 14:00 in the Sestroretsk District Court at the address: Sestroretsk, Volodarsky Street, 41.