#RUSSIA: Anti-war Moscow Buddhist leader convicted again in re-trial

A Moscow court jailed Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev for 6 years and banned him from "administering websites". In custody since June 2024, the 52-year-old was convicted in a re-trial for an anti-war social media post. "Some people want to pressure Buddhists to fight on the side of one leader or another," he told the court. "But there are no soldiers' belt buckles with the inscription 'Buddha is with us'." Moscow City Prosecutor's Office did not respond on why prosecutors requested a custodial sentence and how Vasilyev could be considered dangerous.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3044

#BELARUS: Regime official denies permission for 3 more Catholic priests to remain

Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak denied permission to Vitebsk Catholic Diocese for three Polish Catholic priests to continue service. Fr Zenon Szcząchor has been serving in Belarus since 1990. Rumak unilaterally decides without giving reasons whether registered religious organisations can have foreign clergy. His deputy, Sergei Gerasimenya, refused to explain the enforced departures. Arrested in March, 65-year-old Catholic priest Fr Anatol Parakhnevich suffered a heart attack. A Minsk KGB official told Forum 18 it would respond on his condition, why he has been arrested and where he is.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3045

#KAZAKHSTAN: Anti-war Orthodox priest "kept in forced, absolute isolation from the world"

On 22 April, an Almaty court extended until 23 May pre-trial detention of 40-year-old independent Orthodox priest Yakov Vorontsov. Arrested on 13 February, he faces drugs charges which he and his supporters reject. "Relatives can't visit Fr Yakov," says lawyer Galym Nurpeisov. "This is the Investigator's decision.. He could allow it." Police investigator Daniyar Kametov refused to discuss the case. Meanwhile, Guldaria Sherizat is appealing against her jail term for demonstrating against China's jailing of her husband Alimnur Turganbay. Her jailing is postponed until February 2027, when her youngest daughter turns 14.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3046

#ARMENIA: Conscientious objector's repeat trial delayed and delayed

Molokan conscientious objector Ivan Mikhailov, refused alternative civilian service in 2018, is on criminal trial for the second time. His original 2-year jail term was eventually overturned. His current case reached court in July 2025 but hearings have been repeatedly postponed. He remains under travel restrictions. Baptist conscientious objector Davit Nazaretyan is due to complete his 2-year jail term in August. His case is at the European Court of Human Rights. The Alternative Service Commission refused one young man in January. It grants alternative civilian service only to Jehovah's Witnesses.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3047

#KYRGYZSTAN: Secret police deport Reform Adventist pastor

National Security Committee secret police deported 66-year-old Pastor Pavel Shreider on 9 April. "They put him in a car, took him to the land border and banned him from re-entering the country," an individual told Forum 18. He "would return if he could". He headed the now-banned True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kyrgyzstan. He was born in Kyrgyzstan but holds a Russian passport. He is now seeking asylum elsewhere. The NSC secret police did not respond to Forum 18 on why they deported him.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3048

#KYRGYZSTAN: Secret police's latest target: Baptists

The NSC secret police has – with other state agencies – long obstructed the exercise of freedom of religion or belief, especially by communities it does not like. It has targeted Ahmadi Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, Jehovah's Witnesses, and True and Free Reform Adventists, and now Council of Churches Baptists. Two NSC officers led a 19 April raid on their Bishkek church's Sunday worship for a second time. Major Aleksey Akulich, who led both raids, did not answer questions as to why, and whether the NSC initiated the raids and subsequent fines.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3049

#RUSSIA: Literature confiscation, destruction, fines for lack of full official name

Administrative cases against religious organisations under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 for failing to give their official full names on literature, online, and on their buildings increasingly target literature and online material. Prosecutions for failing to put up signs on buildings are declining. Following Supreme Court guidance, "law enforcement officers began to look for unmarked literature. It's easier. You can always find it. And a wave of cases [based on] unlabelled literature began", a Moscow-based lawyer notes. Courts fine communities and order literature confiscated or – on occasion – destroyed.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3050

#RUSSIA: January 2025 to April 2026 prosecutions for not showing official full name: list

Forum 18 found 52 Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 prosecutions in 2025 and the first four months of 2026 for not showing registered religious organisations' official full names on literature, online, and on buildings. Of these, 34 ended with fines, 6 ended with warnings, 4 ended with acquittals, and 7 in the case being sent back or closed. The outcome of 1 is unknown. Courts ordered religious literature destroyed in 3 cases and confiscated in a further 14 cases.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3051

#RUSSIA: "Without any investigation, they're already presuming us guilty", says pastor

Prosecutions for religious organisations that fail to give their full legal name on buildings, literature or online are often part of state pressure. In Bryansk, a judge fined League of Salvation Pentecostal church for this amid inspections and searches and launching of a criminal case. The FSB raided an associated Support Centre for homeless and disabled people in 2025, but administrative charges were dismissed and a criminal case has not reached court. Holy Trinity Protestant Church in Balashikha near Moscow faced inspections from numerous state agencies and another fine.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3052

#UKRAINE: Longest prison sentence yet for conscientious objector

Prosecutions of conscientious objectors refused an alternative civilian service are increasingly frequent. A court in Mykolaiv Region jailed 42-year-old Jehovah's Witness Volodymyr Klementiev for six years. "To date, this is the longest prison sentence imposed on one of our brothers since the war in Ukraine began," Jehovah's Witnesses noted. A court in Chernihiv Region jailed 34-year-old Seventh-day Adventist Andrii Skliar for five years, one month. A court in Ivano-Frankivsk Region is due to reach a verdict on 23 June on 43-year-old Hare Krishna devotee Taras Borteychuk.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3053

#KYRGYZSTAN: Five Reform Adventists in 2-month pre-trial detention

Late on 17 June, a Bishkek court ordered five members of the now-banned True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church held in pre-trial detention for two months. The three men and two women face criminal charges of "Production and distribution of extremist materials". If convicted as a group, each faces 5 to 7 years' imprisonment. A Bishkek-based commentator warns that the case "could establish a concerning precedent". Police Investigator Adilet Asanbayev says more Church members will be investigated. "This is a real threat to at least 20 others," says one Church member.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3054

#UKRAINE: Conscientious objector's violent death at military base "being covered up"?

Recruitment Office officials seized 50-year-old Council of Churches Baptist conscientious objector Dmytro Koval, rejected his call for alternative civilian service and sent him to the Skelya Assault Regiment. Personnel tortured him for refusing to eat and he died on 21 March. When officials returned Koval's body, his face was unrecognisable. His widow could recognise him "only by his moles, the shape of his ears, facial wrinkles, and other distinctive features," Baptists noted. She demanded that police investigate his death on charges of murder and torture. Investigator Serhiy Popika refused to give information.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3055

#UKRAINE: Will delayed promised Law introduce alternative civilian service in wartime?

The Cabinet of Ministers' Roadmap for reforms, part of Ukraine's commitments under the EU accession process, set the end of June for adopting a law to introduce alternative civilian service in wartime. No draft Law has yet reached parliament. The Economy Ministry prepared a draft, but the Defence Ministry's "categorical position" – set out at a February Presidential Office meeting - is that alternative service must be within the army. Most conscientious objectors do not accept such service. "Officials are playing administrative football with the draft Law," says law professor Serhii Rabinovych.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3056

#UKRAINE: Conscientious objectors convicted, jailed, held in military units: list

With no alternative civilian service available in wartime, prosecutors have launched more than 1,000 criminal cases against conscientious objectors, with about 500 cases already sent to court. In cases known to Forum 18 (listed here), 29 conscientious objectors are in jail serving sentences, with a further 7 awaiting appeals. Courts handed down 11 probation or restricted freedom sentences. Courts are hearing at least 15 new cases, while 21 conscientious objectors are known to be in pre-trial detention. Recruitment Offices have forcibly taken hundreds of conscientious objectors to military bases, where they often face torture.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3057

#BELARUS: Polish priests "increasingly not allowed to continue their work"

Since January, the regime's chief religious affairs official Aleksandr Rumak has refused bishops' requests for at least a dozen Polish Catholic priests to be allowed to continue their religious service in the country. Most had served for several decades, one - Fr Marian Szerszeń - for 36 years. Archbishop Iosif Stanevsky of Minsk-Mogilev complains that such priests "are increasingly not allowed to continue their work". Rumak's Deputy Sergei Gerasimenya refused to explain why Rumak had refused permission for the Polish priests to continue serving. "We give no comments."

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3058

OCCUPIED #UKRAINE: "Neither Interior Ministry nor court knows reasons for my deportation"

After 66 years' residence in Krasnodon (now in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region), Council of Churches Baptist Pastor Vladimir Rytikov faces deportation from Russian-occupied Ukraine and Russia if his last-ditch appeal fails. The Russian FSB brands him a "threat to security", apparently for leading his church. On 17 July, Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court rejected his suit to overturn the deportation order. "Over the past seven years I have been taken to court many times: for missionary activity and holding services without giving notification of the start of a religious group's activity," he says.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3059

#RUSSIA: "Nationwide rise in arbitrary denials of alternative service"

Although the number of young men doing alternative civilian service rather than military service appears to be rising, so too is the number of rejected applications. Rejections often come despite applicants demonstrating to the military authorities that they hold beliefs which preclude participation in military service. "Conscription Commissions rarely provide justifications for their decisions," Call to Conscience laments. Administrative lawsuits challenging refusals often fail. Jehovah's Witnesses say that in 2025, "refusals to grant alternative civilian service were significantly more frequent than positive decisions".

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3060

#RUSSIA: Court challenges to denials of alternative service often fail

Three Pentecostal conscientious objectors in Udmurtiya failed to overturn Conscription Commissions' rejections of their applications for alternative civilian service. The court agreed with the Military Commissariat in each case that they had "failed to substantiate" their conscientious views. "No matter how we litigated, no matter what we did, we were told: 'There is no alternative service now, there is martial law in the country'," one of them noted. Two were sent to military units, while the third obtained a medical exemption. Such court challenges are rarely successful.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3061

#ARMENIA: Trial of Catholicos, six bishops "violates" Church's "right of autonomy"

The criminal trial of seven senior bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church, including its leader Catholicos Karekin, is due to begin at Armavir Region First Instance Court on the afternoon of 7 August. They face up to two years' imprisonment for "failing to execute a judicial act or obstructing its execution" for refusing to reinstate a dismissed bishop in defiance of a court order. Ara Avakyan of the Investigative Committee, who led the investigation, refused to talk. The case "violates the right of autonomy of religious institutions", says Isabella Sargsyan.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3062

#UZBEKISTAN: Prison term awaits arrested Shia for online religious posts?

In late June, amid a crackdown on Shia Muslims in Samarkand, Police arrested the 22-year-old owner of a Shia-related Telegram channel Sunnatillo Akparov. They accuse him of posting marthiyas (Shia musical lamentations) that "encouraged the activity and teachings of various [unspecified] ideological movements". If convicted of online distribution of "materials containing a threat to public security and public order", he faces 5 to 8 years' imprisonment. Investigator Shokhrukh Asliddinov refused to discuss the case he brought. Police raided at least ten Shia homes in Samarkand since May without official warrants.

https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=3063