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".

20 August 2025

RUSSIA: Council of Churches Baptist communities banned

Council of Churches Baptists continue to meet for worship outside their church building in Kurganinsk in Krasnodar Region, three months after bailiffs sealed it. They were enforcing a September 2024 court order prohibiting the activities of the 600-strong community unless it submitted notification of its existence. Courts have banned several other Council of Churches congregations, with prosecutors seeking more. Neither Krasnodar Regional Prosecutor's Office nor Kurganinsk District Court responded to Forum 18 as to why they had been involved in prohibiting the church's activities.

14 August 2025

KYRGYZSTAN: Supreme Court permanently bans Reform Adventists as "extremist"

On 4 August, three Supreme Court judges rejected the True and Free Reform Adventist Church's appeal against their banning as "extremist". The Judges "were so swift to go through the case materials without giving proper attention to arguments" from lawyer Akmat Alagushev, Church members complain. The decision cannot be appealed. Church members intend to complain to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Religious studies scholar Indira Aslanova says the ban "raises serious concerns". "Such precedents can lead to the criminalisation of peaceful forms of religious practice."