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
24 May 2019
RUSSIA: Jehovah's Witness appeal fails, appeal to Strasbourg
An appeal court in Oryol upheld the six-year jail term on Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen on "extremism"-related charges. In his final address to the court he described the accusations as "ridiculous and absurd". His wife Irina told Forum 18 he will appeal directly to the European Court of Human Rights.
22 May 2019
RUSSIA: Imprisonment completed, citizenship stripped, awaiting deportation
The lawyer for Yevgeny Kim, stripped of Russian citizenship and left stateless on completing his nearly four-year jail term for meeting with other Muslims to study Said Nursi's works, says this is the first such case he knows of. Kim was fined and is awaiting deportation to Uzbekistan.
7 May 2019
RUSSIA: 159 "anti-missionary" prosecutions in 2018 - list
Forum 18 has found 159 prosecutions in all of 2018 (56 of organisations and 103 of individuals) for violating Russia's July 2016 Administrative Code Article 5.26 "anti-missionary" restrictions. 132 of the 2018 prosecutions resulted in initial convictions (129 fines). 2018 saw a conviction rate of 90 per cent, compared with an 82 per cent conviction rate in the year from July 2016. Three foreigners were ordered deported, and one of the deportations was overturned on appeal).
6 May 2019
RUSSIA: 159 known "anti-missionary" prosecutions in 2018
At least 56 organisations and 103 individuals faced prosecution in 2018 under the 2016 "anti-missionary" legal changes. Lawyer Mikhail Frolov warns prosecutions have a chilling effect. "Believers don't understand what they can and can't do, and because of heavy fines they don't want to take the risk and therefore significantly reduce their activity, especially in public."
25 March 2019
RUSSIA: Obstructions to Protestant theological education "systemic, intentional"?
The Pentecostal Union's Eurasian Theological Seminary's licence was annulled in October 2018 after inspectors questioned its theology course. The Baptist Union's Moscow Theological Seminary was suspended for 60 days from January 2019, and banned from admitting new students. Pentecostal Union lawyer Vladimir Ozolin says these actions are "systemic, intentional".
11 March 2019
BELARUS: Officials bar priest's return, church's registration
Senior state religious affairs official Leonid Gulyako without explanation rejected pleas from parishioners and the bishop for Polish Catholic priest Pawel Knurek to be allowed to return to work in Belarus. Also, a Minsk Pentecostal Church has been denied registration for the sixth time.
19 February 2019
RUSSIA: Jehovah's Witness criminal cases - list
Full list of 116 Jehovah's Witnesses known to have been charged or named as suspects for "extremism"-related "crimes" as of 19 February 2019. Of these, 26 are in detention, 28 under house arrest and 42 under travel restrictions. When any of these cases might reach court is unknown.
18 February 2019
RUSSIA: 100+ Jehovah's Witness criminal cases
At least 26 Jehovah's Witnesses are in pre-trial detention, 28 under house arrest, and 42 under travel restrictions as more than 100 face "extremism"-related criminal charges. If convicted they could face up to 10 years' imprisonment. Memorial human rights group condemned Dennis Christensen's "shameful and anti-legal" six-year jail term.
6 February 2019
RUSSIA: "6-year jail sentence for believing in God"
After 74 hearings over one year, an Oryol court jailed Jehovah's Witness Dennis Christensen for six years for organising a "banned extremist organisation", the first Jehovah's Witness in post-Soviet Russia sentenced to imprisonment. "We will continue to fight for justice through the courts," his wife Irina told Forum 18.
12 December 2018
BELARUS: Fined for singing, offering religious literature
Police stopped a Baptist husband and wife from singing and offering Christian literature outside Lepel's market. "We were detained like criminals and brought to the police station," Andrei Fokin stated. A court fined the couple one month's average wages each. Bailiffs are seeking to confiscate property and ban him from driving.
11 December 2018
BELARUS: Order not to register new religious communities?
"We want to comply with the law and gather for religious meetings without fear of raids, fines or detentions," says Pastor Vyacheslav Novakovsky of Your Will Be Done Church. A Minsk official involved in the four registration rejections since 2017 told him of "an order from superiors not to register any new communities". She refused to explain this to Forum 18.
25 October 2018
RUSSIA: Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses arrested, Muslims convicted
A Krasnoyarsk court fined 24-year-old Andrei Rekst three months' average wages for studying theologian Said Nursi's writings with fellow Muslims. Another Krasnoyarsk Muslim awaits possible trial under house arrest, unable to attend mosque. Six prisoners of conscience are in labour camp for studying Nursi's works.