2023-12-18 15:35:58
The ruling that supports criticism of Jehovah’s Witnesses by former members has given wings to the victims’ association. At a press conference in Madrid this Monday, the representatives of those affected by the “control” practices of this congregation, legally recognized in Spain, have announced that they will ask the Government to reconsider its consideration of “notorious roots” and the implementation implementation of specific regulations on sects. “This confession has destroyed the lives of thousands of people. Young people, children and adolescents,” denounced Israel Flórez, president of the Spanish Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Control, punishments and social death in Jehovah’s Witnesses: “My family was ordered to withdraw their greeting from me”
Last week, a court in the Madrid town of Torrejón de Ardoz handed down a ruling that, for the first time, protected former members of this congregation and the criticisms and complaints they make about how the Witnesses treat those who decide to leave the group or They are expelled: from control to ostracism by family members. That sentence, against which the congregation has already announced an appeal, understands that they are truthful criticisms and protected by freedom of expression.
This Monday the spokespersons for the association, Israel Flórez and Enrique Carmona, explained that this resolution gives them the freedom to speak openly about what they have been denouncing for several years, and also to launch a series of actions to seek legal changes. “We are going to ask for a law against coercive pressure, we cannot allow them to want to silence us,” said Flórez.
This request for legal changes to request actions against the “social ostracism” that, they denounce, those who decide to leave a congregation of the Witnesses suffer, will be addressed to the Ministry of the Presidency headed by Félix Bolaños. And they will ask that the executive reconsider that the Witnesses have the “notorious roots” that, among other things, allows them not to pay IBI for certain lands and get tax benefits.
“If there are victims, let them remove the notorious roots, let them take it away and pay for this mental health disaster they are causing,” said Flórez. They understand that it should be the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and not the victims’ association or individuals, who pay for the treatments that some need to overcome the consequences of having been condemned to social ostracism after leaving the congregation. “They are causing an evil that we all pay for, but nevertheless they do benefit from not paying the IBI. Let them see if they truly deserve the notorious roots.”
In a joint statement with the lawyer who has defended the association, Carlos Bardavío, and in the presence of several affected people who burst into tears when remembering their own cases, those affected celebrated the ruling announced last week. “The sentence declares the veracity that there are victims of this religious group, which can also be a destructive sect, because whoever enters there does not really know where they enter,” the lawyer explained.
The victims’ association has explained several times that it does not seek the illegalization or dissolution of the Witnesses in Spain, but rather that they cease these practices of ostracism and marginalization of members who decide to leave. “We do not want this confession to disappear, but we do want it to respect fundamental rights, and not give us social death,” said Israel Flórez.
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