Nationwide police raids against the Family in Russia

No sane person denies the sexual and physical abuses that happened in the Family throughout Latin America, including in Argentina. They did happen and they should have been punished but the problem is, as Ed Priebe pointed out in his letter, the police in Argentina knew the Family was guilty but couldn’t prove it, so went on whatever pretexts they could use to arrest the Family and bring them to *justice*. The raids in Argentina were based on issues/pretexts that had nothing to do with the previous sexual abuses, yet once those pretexts were lodged with the authorities and the police warrants were issued, nationwide raids happened incarcerating the innocent along with the guilty.

The guilty Family members in Argentina should have been caught, exposed and punished for the actual crimes committed there, and if there was evidence (note that I said *if* there was evidence) then they ought to be punished to the full extent of the law. The police should have thrown the book at them. Not at the entire movement including innocent children, but at the guilty individuals. But if you can't throw the law books at individuals for specific crimes, then is it ethical and warranted to arrest the entire movement in sweeping raids simply because you have the power to do so, because the corrupt Argentinian police are on your side and have the motives to do so?

If you allow that specific crimes should be *punished* by general, non-specific raids, and allow that it is ethical for such raids to happen on pretexts simply because the police and judicial system is elastic enough to allow it, you make genuine rule of law a sham, and where do you stop? If what was done in Argentina was correct, then where do you draw the line? Since the police in Argentina were guilty of torturing and murdering thousands of their own people during martial law days, why not work with ex-KGB police in Russia who’ve done the same, and instigate nationwide police raids against the Family there?

We know that the Russian authorities are tightening down on Protestants and other religious groups, working hand in hand with the Orthodox church, and are just itching for an excuse to stop the Family; we know that democracy is a new thing in Russia as it was in Argentina, we know that the KGB and police have greater, more unchecked powers in Russia than in mature democracies, so it looks like the idea setup for a repeat of Argentina. It looks like the time and conditions are right to instigate nationwide police raids on Family members in Russia. What happened in Argentina could easily be repeated in Russia, but is that what you want? I hope not.

You are either going to work outside the law or we are going to abide within the confines of the legal system. The choice is yours.