Forum 18

RUSSIA: Old Catholic priest fined for anti-war sermons Fr Aleksandr Khmelyov, an Old Catholic priest, left Russia on 11 July after Telegram channels thought to be linked to state security services claimed investigators were preparing further administrativ...

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#Russia: Old Catholic priest fined for anti-war sermons

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AZERBAIJAN: Large fines for religious meeting Officers were watching a home in Nakhichevan where Christians were meeting. About 20 officers raided a Sunday worship meeting in April. They held three visitors from Baku for two days without food. Po...

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#Azerbaijan: Large fines for religious meeting

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UKRAINE: Official claims "social outrage" prevents Romanian Orthodox registration A Religious Association of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Ukraine lodged a registration application in August 2024. The State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) did not accept...

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#Ukraine: Official claims "social outrage" prevents Romanian Orthodox registration

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KYRGYZSTAN: Reform Adventist Pastor's 3-year jail term plus deportation In November 2024 the NSC secret police arrested and tortured True and Free Reform Adventist Pastor Pavel Shreider, placing him in pre-trial detention. In March 2025 a court banned his Church as "extre...

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#Kyrgyzstan: Reform Adventist Pastor's 3-year jail term plus deportation

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BELARUS: "God may be calling you to church, but prison officials decide" Four of the freed political prisoners recount restrictions on prisoners' exercise of freedom of religion or belief. Political prisoners are barred from attending Orthodox prison chapels. "God may be c...

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#Belarus: "God may be calling you to church, but prison officials decide"

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RUSSIA: Buddhist leader given longest known anti-war jail term A Moscow court jailed Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev on 25 June for eight years for allegedly disseminating "knowingly false information" about Russia's Armed Forces, the longest known prison term for ...

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#Russia: Buddhist leader given longest known anti-war jail term

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TAJIKISTAN: Denial of "qualified medical care" led to Ismaili leader's prison death? Seriously ill prisoner of conscience Muzaffar Davlatmirov, a leading Ismaili Muslim khalifa (cleric) from Mountainous Badakhshan, and his relatives repeatedly called for his transfer from prison to ho...

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#Tajikistan: Denial of "qualified medical care" led to Ismaili leader's prison death?

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UZBEKISTAN: Judge refuses to explain rejecting 8 Muslims' appeals Judge Khamid Bobokulov of Kashkadarya Regional Court refused to explain why on 30 April he rejected the appeal by eight Muslim prisoners of conscience from Karshi against their lengthy prison sentence...

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#Uzbekistan: Judge refuses to explain rejecting 8 Muslims' appeals

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UZBEKISTAN: Courts hand two prisoners of conscience extra jail terms On 5 May, shortly before his five-year jail term ended, a Bukhara Region court jailed Muslim prisoner of conscience Tulkun Astanov for 3 years, 2 months in a strict-regime labour camp. Prison officers...

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#Uzbekistan: Courts hand two prisoners of conscience extra jail terms

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RUSSIA: "Missionary activity" prosecutions January 2024 to April 2025 - list The 124 known prosecutions under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") and Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity") between January 2024 and ...

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#Russia: "Missionary activity" prosecutions January 2024 to April 2025 - list

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RUSSIA: Foreigners face summary expulsion for illegal "missionary activity" On 5 February, amendments to the Administrative Code entered force allowing police - without having to go to court - to fine and expel from Russia foreign citizens who conduct "illegal missionary acti...

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#Russia: Foreigners face summary expulsion for illegal "missionary activity"

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RUSSIA: Prosecutions for unlawful "missionary activity" – 2024 to 2025 At least 90 people in 2024 and 34 in January-April 2025 were prosecuted for unlawful "missionary activity". Fines are typically several weeks' average wages, but foreigners can be deported. A Kurganin...

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#Russia: Prosecutions for unlawful "missionary activity" – 2024 to 2025

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OCCUPIED UKRAINE: "Bishop says no" on Ukrainian Orthodox entities The Russian-controlled Justice Department requested an "expert conclusion" on a Brotherhood of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Russian-occupied Luhansk from Russia's Justice Ministry. Its Expert Coun...

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Occupied #Ukraine: "Bishop says no" on Ukrainian Orthodox entities

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OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Raids, registration pressure, places of worship deemed "ownerless" A prosecutor and police in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region raided Krasnodon's Council of Churches Baptist congregation's Pentecost worship meeting on 8 June. "The main issue is the registration of the...

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Occupied #Ukraine: Raids, registration pressure, places of worship deemed "ownerless"

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OCCUPIED UKRAINE: "Missionary" fines, "so-called religious services" A court in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk fined Pastor Vladimir Rudomyotkin several days' average local wage on 23 May for alleged missionary activity. His Council of Churches Baptist congregati...

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Occupied #Ukraine: "Missionary" fines, "so-called religious services"

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KYRGYZSTAN: Court bans True and Free Adventist Church as "extremist" Only four people were apparently present - Judge Ayke Musayeva, her secretary, the prosecutor who brought the suit and an NSC secret police officer – when Alamudun District Court banned the True and F...

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#Kyrgyzstan: Court bans True and Free Adventist Church as "extremist"

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KYRGYZSTAN: Up to 7 years' imprisonment for True and Free Adventist Pastor? 65-year-old True and Free Reform Adventist Pastor Pavel Schreider faces a five to seven year jail term if a Bishkek court convicts him of incitement, charges he rejects. The trial resumes on 29 May. T...

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#Kyrgyzstan: Up to 7 years' imprisonment for True and Free Adventist Pastor?

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KAZAKHSTAN: Released prisoner banned from attending mosque An official banned a released prisoner from attending mosque, threatening punishment for doing so or congratulating fellow Muslims after Friday prayers. The individual is the only one Forum 18 has fou...

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#Kazakhstan: Released prisoner banned from attending mosque

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BELARUS: Police take relatives' DNA after KGB declares religious freedom group "extremist" On 1 April the KGB ruled that religious freedom group Christian Vision, its website and social media channels are "extremist" and banned. Police raided the homes of three relatives of Dzmitry Korneyen...

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#Belarus: Police take relatives' DNA after KGB declares religious freedom group "extremist"

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BELARUS: "They decided to fabricate a case and accuse him of espionage" On 1 April, the Supreme Court rejected Catholic priest Henryk Okolotovich's appeal against his 11-year jail term on treason charges. Both his trial and appeal were closed. In a message from prison, he...

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#Belarus: "They decided to fabricate a case and accuse him of espionage"

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UKRAINE: How should government deal with conscientious objectors in wartime? The declaration of martial law after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 cancelled the limited right to alternative service in peacetime. Hundreds of conscientious objectors to mobilisation – on religious and non-religious grounds - have been detained, forced into the army, held illegally (often for months) on military bases, or criminally prosecuted. Requested by Ukraine's Constitutional Court, a Venice Commission brief reaffirmed states' obligation to offer alternative service. If Ukraine is to meet international standards, the government should reinstate legal access to alternative civilian service and review criminal convictions.

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#Ukraine: How should government deal with conscientious objectors in wartime?

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UZBEKISTAN: Further 10 years in prison for Muslim prisoner of conscience In the third conviction since December 2020, Navoi City Court handed a further 10-year term to Muslim prisoner of conscience Fariduddin Abduvokhidov. The 30-year-old now appears due for release in Nov...

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#Uzbekistan: Further 10 years in prison for Muslim prisoner of conscience

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RUSSIA: Criminal prosecution to follow fine for anti-war post? Police prosecuted Apostolic Orthodox Church Archbishop Grigory Mikhnov-Vaytenko for allegedly "discrediting" Russia's Armed Forces in a 2022 online video. On 1 April, a St Petersburg court fined him a...

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#Russia: Criminal prosecution to follow fine for anti-war post?

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RUSSIA: Criminal trial of anti-war believer begins, another continues, third awaited On 14 April, a military court began the trial of Christian preacher Eduard Charov on criminal charges of repeat "discreditation" of the Armed Forces and "public justification of terrorism". He is accu...

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#Russia: Criminal trial of anti-war believer begins, another continues, third awaited

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OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Russian FSB raids, court cases, fines, deportation threats On 2 March, officers of the Russian FSB security service and Luhansk Regional Police's Anti-Extremism Centre raided the Sunday worship meeting of a Baptist congregation in Stakhanov in Russian-occupie...

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Occupied #Ukraine: Russian FSB raids, court cases, fines, deportation threats

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KAZAKHSTAN: 15-month criminal investigation of anti-war priest Orthodox priest Yakov (Vorontsov) faced difficulties with his diocese after criticising Russia's war against Ukraine in March 2022. After an "emotional" August 2023 Facebook post saying the Russian Or...

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#Kazakhstan: 15-month criminal investigation of anti-war priest

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#Russia: Second jail term for discussing faith during first term

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TAJIKISTAN: Authorities obstruct Ismaili commemoration of Aga Khan's death Ismaili Shia Muslims gathered at the Ismaili Centre in Khorugh in Mountainous Badakhshan on 5 February to mourn the death of their spiritual leader, the Aga Khan IV. NSC secret police officers and oth...

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#Tajikistan: Authorities obstruct Ismaili commemoration of Aga Khan's death

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UZBEKISTAN: Ramadan ban on children at mosques, fasting by National Guard officers Police have expelled children from mosques in Tashkent, Fergana and elsewhere or prevented them from entering during Tarawih night prayers since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began in late February...

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#Uzbekistan: Ramadan ban on children at mosques, fasting by National Guard officers

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UZBEKISTAN: Parents face punishment for their children's religious education On 21 February, a new law came into force introducing fines of over one month's average wages or up to 15 days in jail for parents who allow their children to receive "illegal" religious education bef...

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#Uzbekistan: Parents face punishment for their children's religious education

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