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
26 February 2026
KAZAKHSTAN: Orthodox priest's 2-month pre-trial detention – on "fabricated" charges?
On 25 February, Almaty's Investigative Court ordered independent Orthodox priest Yakov Vorontsov held until 23 April as investigators pursue criminal charges that he ran a drugs den. Police Investigator Daniyar Kametov, who is leading the investigation, refused to answer questions. The criminal investigation "appears to be fabricated and ordered", Fr Yakov wrote from prison. His lawyer Galym Nurpeisov described the case as a "frame-up [provokatsiya in Russian]". "We suspect that behind this is the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian FSB," he added. Fr Yakov is trying to register an independent Orthodox parish.
20 February 2026
KAZAKHSTAN: Independent Orthodox priest's 10-day jailing, criminal case underway
Supporters of independent Orthodox priest Fr Yakov Vorontsov – whose 40th birthday is today – fear officials might not release him from his 10-day jail term on 23 February, but rearrest him on criminal drugs charges. He and his supporters say the charges are fabricated. He leads a newly-created independent Orthodox parish. Justice Department officials rejected its first registration application. The parish applied again. The cases are "a result of his wanting to register an independent Orthodox parish, and of his criticism of Russia's war against Ukraine," his lawyer Galym Nurpeisov insists.
17 February 2026
UZBEKISTAN: Mosque prayers for sick mother to lead to former prisoner of conscience re-jailing?
Probation Department officials threatened they would return former Muslim prisoner of conscience Fazilkhoja Arifkhojayev to jail if he again violates the terms of his conditional release. They spotted him visiting a Tashkent mosque to pray for his mother on his way home from hospital. On transfer to conditional release in December 2025, the court-imposed restrictions include a ban on visiting mosques. Former Tashkent imam Fazliddin Parpiyev remains in a Turkish deportation centre awaiting likely return for trial. Alisher Tursunov, a Muslim returned by Turkey in May 2025, was jailed.
16 February 2026
UZBEKISTAN: Political prisoner tortured for protest against ban on reading Koran
Political prisoner Dauletmurat Tajimuratov is serving a 16-year term in Navoi's Prison No. 11 for involvement in the 2022 Karakalpak protests. The Muslim has repeatedly faced punishment for exercising freedom of religion in prison. In 2025, officials "seized .. uneaten food before he could break his fast for Ramadan, resulting in him not eating for four consecutive days," UN human rights rapporteurs noted. In November 2025, guards banned reading the Koran on the prison rest day. When officials insulted him publicly, he threw a boot at them. Guards tortured him.
20 January 2026
KAZAKHSTAN: Wife to be jailed for advocating for husband jailed in Xinjiang?
Guldaria Sherizat, an ethnic Kazakh originally from Xinjiang, is among 19 people on trial in Taldykorgan on 23 January for "inciting national discord against the Chinese people". At a demonstration she called for freedom for her husband Alimnur Turganbay, jailed in Xinjiang since July 2025. He had called in a 2019 video for freedom for his nephew and two other Muslims jailed in Xinjiang for 17 years for praying. Sherizat's family say this is a freedom of religion case, as she advocated for her husband who had defended his nephew jailed for exercising freedom of religion or belief.
13 January 2026
UZBEKISTAN: No mosque visits for Muslim serving sentence under effective house arrest
Muslim prisoner of conscience Fazilkhoja Arifkhojayev, punished for criticising the regime's religious policies, is now banned from attending mosque. A Tashkent court imposed the new effective house arrest (due to end in October 2029) after Probation Department officials claimed he violated the terms of his conditional prison release. Police blocked Tashkent Muslim Gayrat Ziyakhojayev from his appeal against a fine for posting a Muslim sermon online. Turkish officials are holding former Tashkent imam Fazliddin Parpiyev in an Ankara detention centre. His friends fear torture if extradited to Uzbekistan.
9 January 2026
KAZAKHSTAN: Complaint against church "under pressure and dictation from police"
In November, police raided a Baptist church's worship meeting in Balpyk-Bi, blocking the doors. Those present rejected pressure to write statements. When church leaders refused to register the church, police took administrative cases to court, but a judge dismissed them in December. In September, police visited a Baptist church in Shu. A woman who complained that the church was teaching children later admitted she wrote the complaint "under pressure and dictation from the police". Police interrogated a pastor's child in school in the parents' absence. Police in both cases refused to comment.
16 December 2025
UZBEKISTAN: Police conduct sexual harassment, threaten fines or jail for sharing faith
Police and Struggle against Terrorism and Extremism police summon Jehovah's Witnesses who share their faith with others in public. Officers warn of fines of two months' average wages – and in one case of up to five years' imprisonment. In May, police interrogated and verbally abused a woman and her minor daughter, and instructed them to undress. The women refused. Officers forced them to sign that they "illegally shared their faith". "I don't think that could have happened," Mirjamol Miralimov of the Interior Ministry's struggle against extremism and terrorism Service claimed.
8 December 2025
KAZAKHSTAN: Fined, ordered deported, but torture unpunished
On 21 November, Kentau Town Court fined and ordered deported Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev – an Uzbek citizen - for posting on Telegram about his faith. Deportation is suspended, pending his appeal. "Deportation will separate Daniyar Tursynbayev from his wife and infant daughter - citizens of Kazakhstan - or force them to leave the country," Jehovah's Witnesses complain. "The conviction is based solely on testimony obtained under torture." Lieutenant Colonel Baglan Yankin – one of four police officers suspected of the torture – denies it. Tursynbayev "invented it all", he claims.
19 November 2025
UZBEKISTAN: Jailed, fined for uncensored religious materials
A Tashkent court jailed Muslim blogger Alisher Tursunov (Mubashir Ahmad) for two-and-a-half years for his online publications and ordered his sites closed. Tursunov did not appeal and is in labour camp in Navoi Region. A Samarkand court handed Anvar Aliyev a four-year suspended sentence for a Shia Muslim Telegram group. A Tashkent court fined Gayrat Ziyakhojayev for an officially-approved Imam's sermon. "It doesn't matter whether the religious materials are legal or illegal, you have to get the permission of the organs before publishing them," the Investigator told him.
14 November 2025
KAZAKHSTAN: Prosecutors stall criminal investigation into police torture of Jehovah's Witness
A court had to order Kentau Prosecutor's Office to begin a criminal investigation into police torture of and murder threats to Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev on 13 August. But prosecutors stalled the investigation, insisting that Tursynbayev – who fled to Almaty fearing for his safety – must testify in person. "This can't be done appropriately by video," says an official. No one has been arrested or tried. Lieutenant Colonel Baglan Yankin, who denies leading the torture, remains in post. "On what basis should I be removed from duty?" he asks.
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; 6 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.