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JEHOVAH’S WITNES SES
O F F I C E O F P U B L I C I N F O R M A T I O N
Watch Tower, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201-2483 U.S.A.
Telephone: 718 560 5600 Facsimile: 718 560 5619
www.jw-media.org
For Immediate Release December 29, 2008
Legal status of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Republic of
Macedonia confirmed by Court in Skopje
SKOPJE, Macedonia—Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Republic of Macedonia were handed a
decree by the Skopje II Basic Court on Wednesday, December 17, 2008. It confirms that as of
November 11, 2008, Jehovah’s Witnesses were registered in the Single Court Register of
churches, religious communities, and religious groups maintained by that court.
This is another important legal step in the long history of Jehovah’s Witnesses in
Macedonia. Jehovah’s Witnesses were registered for the first time on September 9, 1930, in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. They were registered again in 1953 in the former Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. The Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Macedonia in 1993
confirmed Jehovah’s Witnesses’ retention of their legal entity in the independent Republic of
Macedonia.
The new Law on the Legal Status of a Church, Religious Community, and a Religious
Group that was applied on May 1, 2008, requires that all churches, religious communities, and
religious groups be registered at court. This law gave assurances that churches, religious
communities, and religious groups that were registered until 1998 could maintain their existent
legal subjectivity and status, which was now confirmed by the Skopje II Basic Court in the case
of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jovan Iliev, legal representative and member of the spiritual supervisory board of
Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Republic of Macedonia, expressed his satisfaction: “This
confirmation preserves our legal rights as a religious community, and we look forward to
continuing the practice of our religious activities without legal impediments.”
There are over 1,300 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Republic of Macedonia. They are part of
an international multiracial brotherhood of 7.1 million people organized into more than 100,000
congregations in some 230 lands.
Contacts:
Jovan Iliev, telephone: + 389 70 34 42 42
Dimitrie Carchev, telephone: + 389 71 24 83 28
Religious Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses – Christian Religious Community
in the Republic of Macedonia
ul. Alzirska 36, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Telephone: 02 30 90 580 Facsimile: 02 30 90 581
1 year ago
