30 September 2025

UZBEKISTAN: Prisoners of conscience pressured to implicate others, banned from reading Koran

Qorovulbozor Prison officials threatened prisoner of conscience Khayrullo Tursunov to further implicate seven fellow Muslims jailed alongside him. "We are not sure, but others arrested with him may have been threatened to do the same," Muslims told Forum 18. Zarafshon Prison administration banned Khasan Abdirakhimov from calling his family. Police pressured relatives not to speak publicly about him. Prisoner of conscience Faryozbek Kobilov hoped for early release in September 2024. But after days in the punishment cell, he was transferred to a harsher prison, which banned him from reading the Koran.

19 September 2025

AZERBAIJAN: State restricts who can worship and where

Sumgait's Peace Church is one of five Protestant churches whose registration applications languish unanswered, some for years. State Committee officials "simply told us that you cannot hold any more meetings, that it is forbidden to hold any religious ceremony without registration. 'If you do not heed this warning and hold a religious ceremony, you will be punished,' one official said." The State Committee did not respond to questions, including: why Jehovah's Witnesses cannot register nationally; why Georgian Orthodox cannot regularly use their Kurmukhi church; why mosques must belong to the Muslim Board.

11 September 2025

KAZAKHSTAN: Kentau Police use torture, murder threats

On 13 August, Kentau Police tortured Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev and threatened him with death until he admitted "illegal missionary activity". Freed after six hours, friends took him to hospital to document his fractured rib and other injuries. If the court finds him guilty of "illegal missionary activity" on 15 September, he would be due for a fine and – as an Uzbek citizen - deportation. Baglan Yankin, Deputy Chief of Kentau Police Department, denied anyone had tortured Tursynbayev. "This is not true. It is disinformation," he told Forum 18.

8 September 2025

UZBEKISTAN: Samarkand Muslim to be tried for Shia Telegram chat group?

Amid a crackdown on Shia Muslims in Samarkand, police in May forced a detained Shia to open up his phone. They discovered a Telegram chat group to discuss Shia Islam. Officers arrested 10 men, questioning them for up to 20 hours about why they created an "illegal" religious chat group. After torture, a court jailed four – including 35-year-old Anvar Aliyev - for up to 10 days on "petty hooliganism" charges. On 14 July, Samarkand Police re-arrested Aliyev. The SSS secret police opened a criminal case about materials threatening "public security".

5 September 2025

RUSSIA: Protestant pastor jailed for 2022 anti-war sermon

On 3 September, Balashikha City Court jailed 63-year-old Pastor Nikolay Romanyuk for 4 years for a 2022 sermon that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "not our war". "Yes, I gave a sermon in which I touched on military, albeit forced, murder. I do not retract what I said", he told the court in his final speech. The court did not answer Forum 18's question why the judge imposed such a long jail sentence, given his age and health problems. Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev's appeal against his 8-year jail term is due on 10 September.

1 September 2025

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Russian-imposed punishments for meeting for worship, sharing faith

Russian Police and Anti-Extremism Police in occupied Ukraine raided Council of Churches Baptist worship meetings, on 8 June in Krasnodon and on 10 August in Sverdlovsk. Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court fined Pastor Vladimir Rytikov a month's average wages for "missionary activity" for leading his unregistered church. Courts are known to have punished for "missionary activity" 1 person in May, 1 in June, 3 in July and 2 in August. In one case, the Judge ordered destroyed Bibles and hymnbooks seized from Oksana Volyanskaya. Courts also punished at least 3 religious communities.

29 August 2025

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Criminal case against Jehovah's Witness "leader"

Russian officials in occupied Donetsk Region arrested and charged a man identified only as K. for being a "leader of the banned religious organisation Jehovah's Witnesses". The Russian-controlled Donetsk Supreme Court said he had been active in the organisation the Russians deem "extremist" between 2018 and 2023. A Donetsk court ordered two months' pre-trial detention. If convicted, he faces up to six years in jail. "No individual should be criminally charged or detained simply for practising their religion", UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared in a May report on Russian-occupied Ukraine.

21 August 2025

AZERBAIJAN: First jailing of conscientious objector for 3 years

On 30 July, Yevlakh District Court jailed 19-year-old Jehovah's Witness Elgiz Ibrahimov for one year for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Officials arrested him in the courtroom. They took him to a high-security prison in Ganca, initially holding him in a cell with 40 other men and 10 beds. He has appealed. Zahid Oruj, chair of Parliament's Human Rights Committee, appears to accept the criminal prosecution of conscientious objectors. He insisted that since no Alternative Service Law exists, "our judicial institutions have taken the right steps".