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
14 October 2025
KYRGYZSTAN: Did torture cause jailed Reform Adventist pastor's brain damage?
65-year-old True and Free Reform Adventist Pastor Pavel Shreider – serving a 3-year jail term – is in a prison medical unit after relatives raised concerns about brain damage apparently caused by torture. He has been "diagnosed with traumatic brain injury" resulting in "cognitive impairment", Major Azat Kudaybergenov, Chief of Prison No. 21 where he was held for 10 months, wrote to the family. Five United Nations Special Rapporteurs asked the regime about "arrests, detentions and alleged torture" of church members, Pastor Shreider's criminal prosecution, and banning of the Church as "extremist".
10 October 2025
KYRGYZSTAN: Secret police raid, police fine Baptists for "illegal" worship meeting
Ten months after NSC secret police officers raided members of the True and Free Reform Adventist Church (which a court later banned), on 14 September NSC officers raided the harvest festival worship meeting of Bishkek's Council of Churches Baptist congregation. They likewise choose to meet without state registration. Officers seized religious literature for "expert analysis". Police summarily fined the pastor and deacon two weeks' average wages each. Five United Nations Special Rapporteurs wrote to the regime in July reiterating concerns about "the legal framework governing freedom of religion or belief".
30 September 2025
UZBEKISTAN: Prisoners of conscience pressured to implicate others, banned from reading Koran
Qorovulbozor Prison officials threatened prisoner of conscience Khayrullo Tursunov to further implicate seven fellow Muslims jailed alongside him. "We are not sure, but others arrested with him may have been threatened to do the same," Muslims told Forum 18. Zarafshon Prison administration banned Khasan Abdirakhimov from calling his family. Police pressured relatives not to speak publicly about him. Prisoner of conscience Faryozbek Kobilov hoped for early release in September 2024. But after days in the punishment cell, he was transferred to a harsher prison, which banned him from reading the Koran.
19 September 2025
AZERBAIJAN: State restricts who can worship and where
Sumgait's Peace Church is one of five Protestant churches whose registration applications languish unanswered, some for years. State Committee officials "simply told us that you cannot hold any more meetings, that it is forbidden to hold any religious ceremony without registration. 'If you do not heed this warning and hold a religious ceremony, you will be punished,' one official said." The State Committee did not respond to questions, including: why Jehovah's Witnesses cannot register nationally; why Georgian Orthodox cannot regularly use their Kurmukhi church; why mosques must belong to the Muslim Board.
11 September 2025
KAZAKHSTAN: Kentau Police use torture, murder threats
On 13 August, Kentau Police tortured Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev and threatened him with death until he admitted "illegal missionary activity". Freed after six hours, friends took him to hospital to document his fractured rib and other injuries. If the court finds him guilty of "illegal missionary activity" on 15 September, he would be due for a fine and – as an Uzbek citizen - deportation. Baglan Yankin, Deputy Chief of Kentau Police Department, denied anyone had tortured Tursynbayev. "This is not true. It is disinformation," he told Forum 18.
8 September 2025
UZBEKISTAN: Samarkand Muslim to be tried for Shia Telegram chat group?
Amid a crackdown on Shia Muslims in Samarkand, police in May forced a detained Shia to open up his phone. They discovered a Telegram chat group to discuss Shia Islam. Officers arrested 10 men, questioning them for up to 20 hours about why they created an "illegal" religious chat group. After torture, a court jailed four – including 35-year-old Anvar Aliyev - for up to 10 days on "petty hooliganism" charges. On 14 July, Samarkand Police re-arrested Aliyev. The SSS secret police opened a criminal case about materials threatening "public security".
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.
1 September 2025
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Russian-imposed punishments for meeting for worship, sharing faith
Russian Police and Anti-Extremism Police in occupied Ukraine raided Council of Churches Baptist worship meetings, on 8 June in Krasnodon and on 10 August in Sverdlovsk. Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court fined Pastor Vladimir Rytikov a month's average wages for "missionary activity" for leading his unregistered church. Courts are known to have punished for "missionary activity" 1 person in May, 1 in June, 3 in July and 2 in August. In one case, the Judge ordered destroyed Bibles and hymnbooks seized from Oksana Volyanskaya. Courts also punished at least 3 religious communities.
29 August 2025
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Criminal case against Jehovah's Witness "leader"
Russian officials in occupied Donetsk Region arrested and charged a man identified only as K. for being a "leader of the banned religious organisation Jehovah's Witnesses". The Russian-controlled Donetsk Supreme Court said he had been active in the organisation the Russians deem "extremist" between 2018 and 2023. A Donetsk court ordered two months' pre-trial detention. If convicted, he faces up to six years in jail. "No individual should be criminally charged or detained simply for practising their religion", UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared in a May report on Russian-occupied Ukraine.
21 August 2025
AZERBAIJAN: First jailing of conscientious objector for 3 years
On 30 July, Yevlakh District Court jailed 19-year-old Jehovah's Witness Elgiz Ibrahimov for one year for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Officials arrested him in the courtroom. They took him to a high-security prison in Ganca, initially holding him in a cell with 40 other men and 10 beds. He has appealed. Zahid Oruj, chair of Parliament's Human Rights Committee, appears to accept the criminal prosecution of conscientious objectors. He insisted that since no Alternative Service Law exists, "our judicial institutions have taken the right steps".
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.
14 August 2025
KYRGYZSTAN: Supreme Court permanently bans Reform Adventists as "extremist"
On 4 August, three Supreme Court judges rejected the True and Free Reform Adventist Church's appeal against their banning as "extremist". The Judges "were so swift to go through the case materials without giving proper attention to arguments" from lawyer Akmat Alagushev, Church members complain. The decision cannot be appealed. Church members intend to complain to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Religious studies scholar Indira Aslanova says the ban "raises serious concerns". "Such precedents can lead to the criminalisation of peaceful forms of religious practice."