Some three months after their 17 June arrest, a court in the capital Bishkek fined and released all five members of the now-banned True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church. Prosecutors sought to punish them on criminal charges carrying up to 7 years' imprisonment. However, in separate hearings in August and September, Judges at Bishkek's Birinchi May (Pervomaisky) District Court reclassified the cases. The court handed Yevgeny Zhuravsky, Igor Kozlov, Sergey Kozlov, Olga Selova and Valeriya Yantsen a fine of up to two weeks' average wage each.

The Judges changed the charges from "Production and distribution of extremist materials" when conducted by "a group of persons by prior conspiracy" to charges of "Participation in the activity of an extremist organisation liquidated or banned by a court" (see below).

"I would keep them in prison if it depended on me," Investigator Adilet Asanbayev of Bishkek's Birinchi May District police, who opened the criminal investigation in April, told Forum 18. "The Court made the decision to release them" (see below).

As part of the criminal investigation, officials raided church members' homes and seized religious literature and mobile phones. "Special investigative measures" used in the investigation also included "photographic and video recording and the interception of telephone conversations", according to subsequent court documents seen by Forum 18 (see below).

Forum 18 asked Birinchi May District Court Chair Chyngyzbek Berdymuratov:
- what exactly constituted "extremism" in the actions of the Adventists;
- why the Adventists were kept in prison for more than two months simply for reading their religious literature where, among other things, refusal to bear arms was recommended to the Adventists;
- and why the court fined them and did not acquit them.
"No one has the right to demand from judges an account on any concrete case," Berdymuratov wrote in his response to Forum 18. He warned that the law does not allow "any interference" in judges' activity and punishes those who violate this (see below).

The duty officer at the National Security Committee (NSC) secret police headquarters in Bishkek refused to answer Forum 18's questions or put it through to other responsible officials (see below).

Also refusing to comment were officials of the National Agency for Religious Affairs and Interethnic Relations in Bishkek. Meder Karabayev, its Deputy Chair, and Alisher Alybayev, the Agency's Chief Specialist, refused to answer Forum 18's questions. Karabayev referred Forum 18 to Aybek Iminov, another Deputy Chair. He too refused to answer questions on the ban on the Church and the criminal prosecutions of its members. "We were told that we are not competent to answer questions over the phone," Iminov told Forum 18. "You should write a letter to the Foreign Ministry" (see below).

In March 2025, Alamudin District Court in Chuy Region banned the True and Free Reform Adventist Church as an "extremist" religious organisation. The civil case had been brought by Chuy Region Prosecutor's Office with the close involvement of the NSC secret police. Indira Aslanova of the Centre for Religious Studies in Bishkek told Forum 18 that accusing the True and Free Adventists of "extremism" is "absurd" (see below).

On 13 April 2026, just four days after the NSC secret police deported leader of the Church Pastor Pavel Shreider, Investigator Asanbayev opened the criminal investigation against True and Free Adventists (see below).

On Saturday 6 June, police raided at least seven homes of Church members in and around Bishkek. Officers searched the homes and seized books, documents and mobile telephones. They questioned many Church members (see below).

Prosecutors handed the criminal cases against the five to Birinchi May District Court in August (see below).

True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church among banned communities

The True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kyrgyzstan is part of a reform movement within Adventism that emerged during the Soviet period. (It is separate from the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with its headquarters in the United States.) One of its leaders, prisoner of conscience Vladimir Shelkov, died in a Soviet labour camp in 1980.

The Church – which was led by Pastor Pavel Shreider - chooses not to seek state registration. Exercising freedom of religion or belief without state registration is illegal and punishable.

In November 2024, National Security Committee (NSC) secret police arrested Pastor Shreider. Although born in Kyrgyzstan, he holds a Russian passport. A Bishkek court later jailed him for three years. He was freed in March 2026 when the Supreme Court changed his prison term to a fine. NSC secret police officers deported him on 9 April 2026.

On 19 March 2025, Alamudin District Court in Chuy Region banned the True and Free Reform Adventist Church as an "extremist" religious organisation. The civil case had been brought by Chuy Region Prosecutor's Office with the close involvement of the NSC secret police.

Indira Aslanova, Senior Expert of the Centre for Religious Studies, an independent organisation in Bishkek, told Forum 18 in July 2025 that accusing the True and Free Adventists of "extremism" is "absurd".

On 4 August 2025, Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court in Bishkek rejected the appeal against the ban. The Supreme Court upheld the ban permanently, and there is no possibility of challenging it in Kyrgyzstan.

In 2025, officials added the True and Free Adventist Church to the "list of organisations deemed terrorist and extremist by the courts" on the websites of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Justice Ministry's Probation Department. The General Prosecutor's Office also includes on its list of "informational materials deemed extremist by the courts" unnamed "printed and electronic versions of materials (books)" produced by the Church, based on the March 2025 Alamudin District Court decision.

The Church can no longer meet for worship because of the ban. It previously met in its place of worship in the village of Lenin in Alamudun District of Chuy Region, just north of Bishkek. Officials have not seized the place of worship.

The regime has previously banned Ahmadi Muslims, and cancelled the state registration or a Falun Gong association. Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 that they do not know if the criminal case opened in 2019 against so far unspecified representatives of the Jehovah's Witness national centre in Bishkek on charges of inciting hatred is still active, "but have no reason to believe that it has been closed".

Criminal investigation launched in April

On 13 April, just four days after the National Security Committee (NSC) secret police deported leader of the Church Pastor Pavel Shreider, Investigator Adilet Asanbayev of Bishkek's Birinchi May (Pervomaisky) District police opened a criminal investigation against True and Free Adventists.

On 28 May, Birinchi May District Court approved Investigator Asanbayev's request to conduct house searches of Church members as part of the criminal investigation.

The court decision notes that an officer of the Police Counter Extremism and Illegal Migration Service submitted a written report to Birinchi May District Police on 13 April. He claimed he had received "operational information" that a group of people from Bishkek and the villages of Mayevka and Lenin had "spread the ideology of the extremist organisation" of the True and Free Reform Adventist Church. The criminal investigation was launched on this basis.

The officer claimed that "operational investigative measures" had established that Church members continued to meet at Church leaders' homes on Saturdays (the holy day for Adventists).

On Saturday 6 June, police raided at least seven homes of Church members in and around Bishkek. Officers searched the homes and seized religious books, documents and mobile telephones. They recorded the search on video. Officers then detained several of the Adventists and took them for questioning. They released all of them later that day.

On 12 June, the Justice Ministry's State Service for Judicial Expert Analysis completed its "expert analysis" of books seized from Church members. This noted that Church members refuse military service. "When in the army, people cannot be simultaneously faithful to their faith and to the orders of their superiors," the analysis quotes a Church book as declaring. It claims that a text describes Church members as the "people of God" who are "opposed to people of secular views". It adds that "religious convictions are placed above service to the country and civic duty".

Indictments

As recorded in the indictments (seen by Forum 18), five True and Free Adventists - Yevgeny Zhuravsky, Igor Kozlov, Sergey Kozlov, Olga Selova and Valeriya Yantsen – were incriminated for participating in the activity of a banned extremist organisation. As evidence the authorities indicate the True and Free Adventist literature confiscated from their homes during the 6 June police raids. Zhuravsky in addition was accused of "organising coordination of the activity of the banned extremist religious organisation."

The Police noted in the indictments, which Prosecutor Bakytbek Toktogonov of Birinchi May District Prosecutor's Office endorsed on 30 June, that each of the five had books of the banned True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church, where there are teachings on "refusal to serve in the Armed Forces based on the convictions of the Church".

The indictments further claim that "It is no accident that these books were found in the private homes of each" of the detained Adventists. "It was found" by the Police that Zhuravsky was the "coordinator of the private meetings in the homes" of the Adventists.

"Special investigative measures" used in the investigation included "photographic and video recording and the interception of telephone conversations", according to subsequent court documents seen by Forum 18.

Sultan Makilov, Head of the Press Service of the Interior Ministry in Bishkek, confirmed to Forum 18 in writing on 7 July that the criminal case against the five had been launched under Criminal Code Article 332 ("Production and distribution of extremist materials").

Makilov stressed that a Chuy Region court had banned the True and Free Adventists in March 2025. "Despite the court decision entering legal force, individual participants of this organisation continued to carry out activity to spread its ideology and conduct propaganda in Bishkek and Chuy Region," he claimed. He noted that five Adventists had been detained "in the course of investigative operational measures". He said he could give no further details "in the interests of the investigation" and in line with the law.

Two months' pre-trial detention

Bishkek's Birinchi May District Court put all five True and Free Adventists - Yevgeny Zhuravsky, Igor Kozlov, Sergey Kozlov, Olga Selova and Valeriya Yantsen – in two months' pre-trial detention at a late-night hearing on 17 June. They remained in detention awaiting their trials.

Investigator Adilet Asanbayev on 26 August adamantly defended the investigation and prosecution of the True and Free Adventists. "We discovered that they were involved in extremist activity," he told Forum 18. Asked what exactly constituted "extremism" in their activity, he replied: "They had Adventist books in their homes, which is banned in Kyrgyzstan." He could not answer Forum 18's question why Adventists cannot have their books in their homes.

Neither Investigator Asanbayev nor Birinchi May District Court answered on 26 August Forum 18's question why the arrested Adventists were being tried individually under the same charges. However, two Adventists told Forum 18 separately that the Investigator tried to find evidence to try them as a group (which would lead to higher punishments), but could not. "Apparently the Investigator could not fabricate the case as an organised violation," one noted.

Trials, fines, release

All five True and Free Adventists were put on trial separately at Bishkek's Birinchi May District Court in August and September, church members from outside the country told Forum 18.

Prosecutors presented the cases to court under Criminal Code Article 332, Part 2, Point 2 ("Production and distribution of extremist materials" when conducted by "a group of persons by prior conspiracy"). This carries a maximum 7-year jail term.

However, in each case the judge reclassified the case under Criminal Code Article 331, Part 5 ("Participation in the activity of an extremist organisation liquidated or banned by a court"). Punishments under this Article range from a fine of 200 to 500 Financial Indicators (20,000 to 50,000 Soms) or imprisonment for up to two years.

"According to the prosecution, the presence of identical copies of religious literature and teaching materials among several unrelated persons demonstrates the use of a common set of doctrinal materials and their distribution among the organisation's followers," the verdicts note. "As established by the case materials, these publications were used during meetings and religious instruction, and as teaching and instructional materials for congregation members."

The verdicts added: "In the opinion of the pre-trial investigation authority, these circumstances confirm the existence of stable organisational links among the association's participants and the coordination of their actions aimed at preserving the prohibited organisation and ensuring its continued operation."

On 18 August, Judge Iskander Sargaldakov found Olga Selova guilty, fined her 20,000 Soms (about 2 weeks' average wage) and ordered her release.

On 9 September, Judge Tilek Turdukulov found Igor Kozlov guilty, fined him 20,000 Soms (about 2 weeks' average wage) and ordered his release.

On 17 September, Judge Tilek Turdukulov found Yevgeny Zhuravsky guilty, fined him 10,000 Soms (about one week's average wage) and ordered his release.

Also in September, Birinchi May District Court fined and released Valeriya Yantsen. She and her family declined to provide Forum 18 the details of her trial for fear of further state reprisals.

The last to be tried was Sergey Kozlov. On 28 September, Judge Madamin Azimzhanov found him guilty, fined him 20,000 Soms (about 2 weeks' average wage) and ordered his release. This means he was held for more than three months.

All five were given 30 days to lodge an appeal to Bishkek City Court. They all had to sign a written undertaking not to leave their place of residence until the verdicts entered legal force.

Adventists told Forum 18 that the five have "not paid the fines yet but they have time limit set by the Court".

Investigator: "I would keep them in prison if it depended on me"

Investigator Adilet Asanbayev adamantly defended his decision to open the criminal case against the five True and Free Adventists under extremism-related charges. Asked why the authorities incriminated the Adventists as "extremists" and put them in prison but later freed them, he told Forum 18 on 13 October: "The court released them but they were still fined."

Asked why the authorities are so determined to call True and Free Adventists "extremists", why they dislike them, including for refusing to serve in the army, and keep punishing them, and asked what exactly constitutes "extremism" in their activity, Investigator Asanbayev brushed it off. "I would keep them in prison if it depended on me. The Court made the decision to release them." He then declined to talk to Forum 18 further.

Judges, NSC secret police, religion agency refuse to comment

Between 8 and 13 October none of the Judges who tried the True and Free Adventists, nor Chair of the Court Chyngyzbek Berdymuratov, nor Court employees answered Forum 18's questions regarding the verdicts.

The Assistants to Judge Tilek Turdukulov and to Judge Madamin Azimzhanov both told Forum 18 to send its questions in writing to the Court's Chair.

Forum 18 asked Court Chair Berdymuratov in writing:
- what exactly constituted "extremism" in the actions of the Adventists;
- why the Adventists were kept in prison for more than two months simply for reading their religious literature where, among other things, refusal to bear arms was recommended to the Adventists;
- and why the court fined them and did not acquit them.
"No one has the right to demand from judges an account on any concrete case," Berdymuratov wrote in his 14 October response to Forum 18. He warned that the law does not allow "any interference" in judges' activity and punishes those who violate this.

The National Security Committee (NSC) secret police, which was closely involved in the 2025 suit to ban the True and Free Adventist Church and in the prosecution of Pastor Pavel Shreider, refused to talk to Forum 18. The duty officer at the NSC headquarters in Bishkek, who did not give his name, refused to answer Forum 18's questions on 13 October or put it through to other responsible officials.

Also refusing to comment were officials of the National Agency for Religious Affairs and Interethnic Relations in Bishkek. Meder Karabayev, its Deputy Chair, and Alisher Alybayev, the Agency's Chief Specialist, refused to answer Forum 18's questions on 13 October. Karabayev referred Forum 18 to Aybek Iminov, another Deputy Chair.

Forum 18 asked Iminov, Deputy Head of the National Agency responsible for religious "expert analysis" of the teachings of religious communities, on 14 October what is his or the National Agency's evaluation of the banning of the True and Free Reform Adventist Church, deportation of its leader and punishments given to the local members of the Church. He refused to comment.

Forum 18 told Iminov that one of the purposes of his Agency as indicated in its Charter is to help religious communities to exercise their rights and privileges of religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution and by the international conventions the country has signed, and asked what has the Agency done so far in this regard, i.e., how has it helped the Church to repeal the ban, restore its rights, stop the persecution of its members by the state authorities. Iminov also refused to say.

"We were told that we are not competent to answer questions over the phone," Iminov told Forum 18. "You should write a letter to the Foreign Ministry." He then declined to talk further. (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Kyrgyzstan

For more background, see Forum 18's Kyrgyzstan religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

Follow us on Bluesky @Forum18

Follow us on Facebook @Forum18NewsService

Follow us on Telegram @Forum18NewsService

Follow us on WhatsApp Forum 18

Follow us on X/Twitter @Forum_18

All Forum 18 material may be referred to, quoted from, or republished in full, if Forum 18 is credited as the source.

All photographs that are not Forum 18's copyright are attributed to the copyright owner. If you reuse any photographs from Forum 18's website, you must seek permission for any reuse from the copyright owner or abide by the copyright terms the copyright owner has chosen.

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.