A lexicologist was questioned in the Vyborg court in the case of banning the Bible

On August 9, 2017, in the Vyborg City Court, the hearing on the Bible ban lasted 11 hours! The case is being heard by Judge Dmitry Grishin.

The process attracted many observers, including journalists and foreign diplomats. The hall could accommodate only a small part of those who came, but the judge allowed the door to the auditorium to be left open, so that the listeners, standing in the corridor, could follow the process. The organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses of Germany (publisher and producer of the Bible), the United States of America (the owner of the copyright in the translation) and Finland (the carrier from whom the shipment of Bibles was seized) participate as interested parties.

Since we are talking about such a respected and culture-forming book as the Bible, an authoritative scientist in the field of text examination was invited to participate in the case as a specialist - Anatoly Nikolaevich Baranov, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Head of the Department of Experimental Lexicography of the Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, author of the textbook "Linguistic Examination of the Text". For almost 2 hours, the scientist answered questions from the parties and the court. Among other things, he explained to the court the nuances associated with the translation. For example, what is meant by the term "Bible"? Can its Russian translation be considered a "Bible"? Is it possible to establish the identity of a translation by comparing it with another translation? Although the answers to these questions seem self-evident, they are very important for establishing all the facts in this case, given that in Russia the Bible has a special immunity from anti-extremist legislation.

The hearing is scheduled to continue at 9:30 a.m. on August 16, 2017. The court is scheduled to interview a religious scholar.