The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
4 December 2025
RUSSIA: Orthodox priest tortured, prosecuted for "overt disrespect for society"
On 27 November, National Guard, Investigative Committee, and FSB officers raided an independent Orthodox church in Krasnodar Region. "They'd rummaged through the sanctuary, barbarously turning everything upside down", a church member noted. They arrested the 34-year-old Fr Iona Sigida and held him overnight. Investigators beat him, shocked him with a stun gun, and forcibly shaved him. Officials did not respond to Forum 18's questions about the torture. He is facing criminal charges for posts on the church website. Slavyansk City Court placed him under house arrest until January.
24 November 2025
BELARUS: Will regime allow freed Catholic priests to return to ministry?
Two Catholic priests, Fr Henryk Okolotovich and Fr Andrei Yukhnevich, who were handed long sentences at closed trials, were pardoned and freed from labour camp early on 20 November. They were taken to Minsk airport and are now in Rome. State news agency Belta claimed both had committed "serious crimes against the state". Both rejected all the accusations against them. It remains unclear if the regime will allow them to return to Belarus and resume parish ministry. Deputy Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Sergei Gerasimenya refused to say.
12 November 2025
RUSSIA: Exiled Orthodox journalist facing criminal charges added to Wanted List
Russia's Interior Ministry Wanted List includes: 4 opponents of Russia's war against Ukraine on religious grounds; 7 Muslim Nursi readers from Russia; 15 Jehovah's Witnesses from Russia, 4 from Russian-occupied Crimea; 4 people wanted by Belarus; 3 wanted by Kazakhstan; 2 wanted by Tajikistan; 5 wanted by Uzbekistan. Most recently added was exiled Orthodox journalist Kseniya Luchenko. The Interior Ministry did not say why it includes people who peacefully exercised their right to freedom of religion or belief. Interpol would not say for how many of them Russia had sought Red Notices.
4 November 2025
RUSSIA: Bans on Council of Churches Baptist congregations "only growing"
Courts have now banned at least 10 Council of Churches Baptist communities for meeting without state permission. (These Baptists choose to meet without registration.) "This practice is only growing", says lawyer Sergey Chugunov. Six of the known lawsuits have been in Krasnodar Region. Krasnodar Region Prosecutor's Office did not respond to Forum 18's questions. Such bans often start with FSB or police surveillance, raids and prosecutions for "illegal missionary activity". Bans on churches' activities "must be overturned", Chugunov believes. The churches continue to meet despite the bans.
31 October 2025
BELARUS: KGB tried to use jailed priest to entrap nuncio?
KGB secret police officers offered to free jailed Catholic priest Fr Henryk Okolotovich if he agreed to plant material on the Vatican nuncio in an apparent attempt to compromise him. He refused. KGB officers said they would visit the priest again in prison "many more times, so that perhaps you will change your mind", released political prisoner Andrey Krylov recounted. KGB officers try to recruit informers in religious communities, both in Belarus and abroad. "The regime tries to incriminate the Church and its priests as spies," says one religious leader.
21 October 2025
RUSSIA: More long jail sentences, removals of citizenship
Courts handed at least 3 Jehovah's Witnesses long jail terms for exercising freedom of religion since September. A Samara court jailed Samvel Babayan for 7 years. A Saransk court jailed Ivan Neverov for 7 years, Mikhail Shevchuk for 6 years 6 months. Neither the court nor the Prosecutor's Office would explain the long jail terms or who Neverov and Shevchuk might have harmed. Interior Ministry officials rescinded Irina Khvostova's citizenship. Within minutes of release from prison on 13 October, police took Armenian citizen Vardan Zakaryan to prepare his expulsion.
20 October 2025
RUSSIA: Another Jehovah's Witness tortured during arrest
Armed National Guard personnel tortured 58-year-old Mikhail Proshenkov with a stun gun while searching his home on 3 September. Proshenkov was one of five Jehovah's Witnesses arrested during early-morning raids in Saratov. The National Guard in Saratov did not respond to Forum 18's questions on the torture, while Saratov Region Human Rights Commissioner Nadezhda Sukhova refused to answer. On two successive days, Zelenokumsk prison administration forced 60-year-old Jehovah's Witness Anna Safronova to stand for over 10 hours. Officials refused to open a criminal case against the perpetrators.
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.
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.
30 July 2025
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 administrative and criminal cases against him possibly for "creation of an extremist community" or "LGBT propaganda". Earlier that day, a St Petersburg court fined him for "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces in a February 2022 sermon. A spokesperson for the St Petersburg court system ignored Forum 18's questions about why Fr Aleksandr's actions were considered "discreditation" of the Armed Forces.
10 July 2025
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 calling you to church, but prison officials decide," Ihar Karnei notes. Orthodox Christian Sergei Tikhanovsky was denied access to a priest for more than 5 years. Denials of access to meetings for worship, religious literature and clergy visits violate the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Officials of four of the prisons refused to discuss the restrictions with Forum 18.
4 July 2025
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 opposing Russia's war against Ukraine on religious grounds. "We called for the voice of reason, but it seems the judge heard only the voice of the prosecutor's office," his lawyer Gevorg Aleksanyan said. A court spokesperson refused comment on the verdict or why the Judge refuses a prison visit from a Buddhist priest. Protestant pastor Nikolay Romanyuk's criminal trial may begin in mid-July.