The Court of First Instance number 6 of Torrejón de Ardoz has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Jehovah's Witnesses against the Spanish Association of Victims of Jehovah's Witnesses, endorsing that this confession can be qualified as a “destructive sect” and its ex-members as “victims”. The resolution concludes that these expressions are protected by the right to freedom of expression and information, prevailing over the right to honor alleged by the religious organization.
The lawsuit had been filed considering that the association's statutes included "offensive" statements against the honor of the collective and its faithful. However, the court rejects this argument and maintains that no violation has occurred, understanding that the assessments made are part of a legitimate critical discourse within public debate.
In its reasoning, the ruling emphasizes that the expressions in dispute are not minor, since they attribute serious consequences to certain practices linked to confession. Among them it mentions “social death, ostracism, mental disorders, self-harming ideas or acts, discrimination, concealment of possible crimes or omission of vital medical treatment”. However, the judge clarifies that, although they may be harsh or annoying, they do not necessarily constitute an insult or an illegitimate attack on honor.
The magistrate also highlights that the objective of the association is not the disappearance of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but to denounce what they consider harmful practices and promote changes. In this sense, he considers it legitimate for the entity to report on the possible consequences of belonging to the organization, especially when said assessments are based on personal experiences of former members.
Regarding the use of the term “victims”, the ruling points out that numerous people have declared having suffered damages derived from their time in the confession. Therefore, preventing the use of that denomination would constitute an “unjustified censorship”. The judge concludes that the freedom of those who recount these experiences and group together to make them visible must prevail, even if this conflicts with the perception the organization has of its own honor.
