In yet another attempt to restrict religious freedom, Russian authorities have filed a claim to declare the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures to be extremist. Hearings are set to begin on March 15, 2016. Last year, Russian customs officials took an unprecedented step when they denied the importation of these Bibles. This latest step is an irreverent attack on a sacred Christian text.

Russian legislation prohibits declaring the Bible to be extremist. However, the Leningrad-Finlyandskiy Transport Prosecutor is justifying his claim by citing the opinion of a person who is unqualified in linguistics. If the prosecutor succeeds in court, the New World Translation could be banned from distribution in Russia.