On September 27, 1996, three-year-old Vanya Semyonov, a patient with leukemia, died in the intensive care unit of the 1st Children's City Hospital of St. Petersburg. The Jehovah's Witness mother refused in writing the transfusion procedure necessary for her son. On January 26, 1998, nine-month-old Danya Krivtsov died in the same hospital. And in this case, the parents, Jehovah's Witnesses, did not allow the doctors to save the child's life.10

When there was again an urgent need to give a transfusion to the child of the "witnesses" of eight-year-old Diana Leontyeva, the doctors of the 1st Children's Hospital persuaded her parents to prevent the death of the girl for five hours in a row. At the same time, one of the leaders of the sect, Georgy Polyakov, arrived at the hospital to insist on the observance of "Jehovah's laws." He advised Diana's parents to use blood substitutes, having bought them from the sect for a lot of money. Since the Leontievs did not have such money, they were cynically offered to sell the apartment. They refused and, thank God, allowed the doctors to give Diana a transfusion and thus saved the child's life.11

In 1997, a premature infant girl at the Institute of Pediatrics of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences was supposed to receive an urgent blood transfusion, but due to the categorical refusal of her mother, a convinced Jehovah's Witness, the child died.12

The "Witnesses" say that it is possible to use drugs that replace blood instead of blood. However, according to the director of the Hematological Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences A.I. Vorobyov, there is a wide range of diseases in which blood transfusion is the only way to save a person's life. Thus, we can talk about forcing a person to commit suicide (or to murder, if the parents are forced to make a choice for their young child). Not only the Jehovah's Witnesses themselves and their children can die, but also people who are unconscious if their sectarian relatives refuse to consent to transfusion.

However, human life has never been a priority for the leadership of the sect. Initially, Jehovah's Witnesses were forbidden to vaccinate themselves, which, of course, led to a large number of serious diseases and deaths. It was not until 1952, after many countries had banned people who had not received the required vaccinations and vaccinations, that the Watch Tower Society lifted its ban. No one took responsibility for the people who died at the whim of the sect leadership. On the other hand, organ transplants were banned, which deprived many people of their last hope of saving their lives. The Jehovah's Witnesses, who needed an eye corneal transplant, were forced to refuse the operation and agree to the loss of sight. In 1980, organ transplantation was allowed, and again the leadership of the sect did not even consider it necessary to apologize for forcibly imposing on people a point of view that was now recognized as erroneous.13 Why did hundreds of people die, and many others went blind? This question still remains unanswered. Perhaps in the near future, the sect's leadership will allow Jehovah's Witnesses to receive blood transfusions.14 And again the sectarians will meekly accept this change, and again no one will demand an answer to the simple question: for what did our brothers and sisters die?

Jehovah's Witnesses deny any earthly government and everything connected with it: military service, oaths to public office, public holidays, honoring the flag, voting and election to elective office, etc. All members of the sect consider themselves citizens of a single theocratic state – the Watch Tower Society with its capital in Brooklyn (a district of New York), where their Bethel center is located near the Brooklyn Bridge (this is the name of not only the Brooklyn headquarters sects, but also the administrative centers of Jehovah's Witnesses in all countries of the world): a complex of squat gray-brown cube-shaped buildings, very boring and reminiscent of either warehouses or barracks. One of them has a turret with crenellated edges at the top, on which is written: "The Watchtower." This is their brain trust, headquarters, world government. There sits the "divinely ordained" supreme body, the Governing (Governing) Corporation, called by sectarians Jehovah's "Faithful and Discreet Slave" (ViBR), his only representative on earth.

The governing body appoints authorized representatives in the large zones, who supervise committees in the branches, to which the overseers in the areas report. Subordinate to them are circuit overseers, who supervise the elders in the congregations to which the rank and file members are assigned. Such is the rigid structure of the sect's management. However, all the local administrative bodies of the sect do not make any decisions on their own – they are only a transmission link for the "implementation" of orders and directives from Brooklyn.

Here is a quote from a pro-Jehovah's Witness source that characterizes the structure of the sect. Let us pay attention to its internal contradictions:

У Свидетелей нет оплачиваемого духовенства, собраниями руководят старейшины. Типичное собрание насчитывает около 100 Свидетелей, в том числе шесть старейшин и шесть служебных помощников. Если собрание становится более многочисленным, оно делится на ряд собраний.

Двадцать собраний Свидетелей Иеговы составляют один район, десять районов – область. Духовное руководство осуществляют районные и областные надзиратели (греческое слово «епископ» буквально означает «надзиратель»). Надзиратели у Свидетелей Иеговы постоянно объезжают собрания в своих районах и областях, бывая в них не реже, чем дважды в год (и в каждом проводя неделю), поэтому их называют «разъездные надзиратели».

Специальные пионеры, миссионеры и разъездные надзиратели содержатся за счет средств религиозной организации. В 1998 г. Общество Сторожевой Башни потратило на их поддержку около 64,4 миллионов долларов (значит, все-таки есть оплачиваемое духовенство? – А. Д.)16.

Всего в американских Вефилях работают около пяти тысяч человек, а в Вефилях по всему миру – более двадцати тысяч. Большая часть из них прошла подготовку в «Школе теократического служения» в Галааде (Пенсильвания) – главном учебном заведении секты. Располагающаяся в бруклинском Вефиле руководящая корпорация анонимно принимает все решения относительно управления сектой и направления ее дальнейшего развития. Помимо описанных выше зданий, секте принадлежат не менее десяти небоскребов неподалеку – в Бруклин Хайтс – одном из самых престижных и дорогих районов Нью-Йорка. В этих зданиях живет и работает аппарат, состоящий из более трех тысяч человек – исполнительное звено власти (и власти абсолютной) в секте. Но все решения нужно доводить до рядовых сектантов и поэтому бруклинский Вефиль – это прежде всего издательство, в котором создается вся пропагандистская продукция секты: пишутся статьи, рисуются иллюстрации, записывается музыка, штампуются лазерные диски. Тут же продукция печатается и тут же многомиллионные тиражи грузятся на транспорт для отправки в различные страны мира.