30 May 2025

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 Free Adventist Church as "extremist" on 19 March. Church members found out two days later, when the ban was already in force. Their lawyer is preparing a Supreme Court challenge. The ban was based on NSC-commissioned "expert analyses" of books seized in raids which did not meet "the basic standards of scientific analysis", says religious studies scholar Indira Aslanova.

22 May 2025

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

65-year-old True and Free Reform Adventist Pastor Pavel Shreider 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. The NSC secret police arrested him in November 2024. Officers tortured him during interrogation, but his complaint to the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture was closed. Officers tortured with a stun gun church member Igor Tsoy to pressure him to implicate Pastor Shreider. He refused. At NSC behest, a court declared the Church "extremist".

15 May 2025

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 found specifically banned from visiting places of worship. However, bans on "membership or participation in" religious organisations are common. Officials have not explained whether such bans include attending places of worship. Muslim prisoners of conscience Dadash Mazhenov and Abdukhalil Abduzhabbarov have completed jail terms. After 16 months, Almaty Police closed its criminal investigation into anti-war Orthodox priest Fr Yakov (Vorontsov).

7 May 2025

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 Korneyenko, one of the members identified by the KGB, taking DNA samples from two. "When [my brother] asked the police why they needed his DNA, they responded that it made it easier for them to hunt for me," Korneyenko said. Orsha District Police refused to say why officers visited Korneyenko's relatives and why they needed DNA samples.

2 May 2025

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 denied "espionage for Poland and the Vatican". He rejected pressure to implicate the country's Catholic bishops. "Priests are being persecuted to shut our mouths, so that the Catholic Church does not tell the truth." Even before his arrest, the 65-year-old had suffered a heart attack and had part of his stomach removed due to cancer.

24 April 2025

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.

22 April 2025

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 November 2034. Originally jailed for meeting with others in Tashkent to discuss Islam, Abduvokhidov's latest "crime" was allegedly telling fellow prisoners that the prison authorities "are not Muslims but infidels". The Investigator learned this through "spies in the prison", as well as "recordings of conversations". Another jailed Muslim, Alimardon Sultonov, was put in isolation cell in his new prison.

17 April 2025

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 week's average wages. He quoted in court Jesus' words "blessed are the peacemakers", adding "the Church is obliged to voice precisely this position". A court spokesperson explained his conviction: "He uploaded a video in which it was said that Russia groundlessly invaded Ukraine. What other reasoning do you need?" Archbishop Grigory expects a second "discreditation" accusation and criminal prosecution.