4 March 2010 | The Serbian Ministry of Religious Affairs has legally recognised Jehovah's Witnesses as a church or religious community in the country.

A legal representative of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Serbia, Damir Porobic, told Balkan Insight that the ministry accepted the application of the “Jehovah's Witnesses Christian Religious Community” and placed them in the Register of Churches and Religious Communities.

"By making the decision to include Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Register of Churches and Religious Communities, the Serbian Ministry of Religious Affairs acknowledges the existence and activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Serbia over many decades," he said.

The community members started practicing their faith in Serbia in the early 1920s. Jehovah’s Witnesses are an international Christian community of over 7,300,000 members currently active in 236 countries and territories.

Porobic added that Jehovah’s Witnesses are now legally recognised in all the countries that surround Serbia and all EU member states.

He pointed out that the recognition would facilitate their work and added that it would hopefully change public perception of the community.

"Our community has been unjustly characterised in Serbian media and we hope that public will perceive us in a different way from now on," Porobic said.

This article is courtesy of Balkan Insight, the online publication of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, which contains analytical reports, in-depth analyses and investigations and news items from throughout the region covering major challenges of the political, social and economic transition in the Balkans.

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