On 3 February, officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) assaulted a number of Jehovah's Witnesses during raids on their homes in Dimitrovgrad in Ulyanovsk Region. Officers subjected at least two of them to torture. Investigators subsequently charged four people with organising or participating in "the activities of a banned extremist organisation" for continuing to meet for worship.

One of the masked officers knocked down 57-year-old Zhanna Popova when she answered the door early in the morning, injuring her knee. During the search of their home, one FSB officer forced her 60-year-old husband Igor Popov onto the floor. The officer struck him in the back, "forcibly twisting his neck", apparently in an attempt to make him give up his computer password (see below).

After completing the search, the FSB personnel took Popov to the local FSB headquarters, where he was handcuffed, stripped, beaten, and "repeatedly subjected to electric shocks". An investigator then forced him to sign a prepared statement "incriminating himself" and agree to cooperate with the investigation (see below).

Popov and his wife have lodged complaints about their treatment to prosecutors and other state agencies, but have so far received no response, according to Jehovah's Witness lawyers (see below).

After raiding and searching his home the same morning, FSB investigators began questioning Igor Balashov at about midnight, after refusing him food, water, and the medication he needed for chronic illnesses for approximately 20 hours. "As a result, during interrogation, his blood pressure spiked, half of his face went numb, and he began to suffer tremors," according to the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses. Investigators forced him to sign a statement (see below).

Forum 18 wrote to the Ulyanovsk Region branch of the FSB to ask:
- why it had considered it necessary to use physical force against the Jehovah's Witnesses;
- why investigators had allegedly used a stun gun on one man during interrogation;
- and whether the personnel involved had been suspended from duty or placed under investigation.
Forum 18 has received no response (see below).

Forum 18 also sent written enquiries to Ulyanovsk Region Prosecutor's Office, the Ulyanovsk Region Investigative Committee, the Federal Investigative Committee, and both federal and regional human rights commissioners, asking whether an investigation had been opened and whether the officers involved in the torture had been suspended. The regional prosecutor's office and regional human rights commissioner responded, but did not answer Forum 18's questions (see below).

National Guard (Rosgvardiya) troops usually accompany the FSB and other investigative agencies when they arrest Jehovah's Witnesses and search their homes. The Ulyanovsk branch of Rosgvardiya, however, did not participate in the Dimitrovgrad raids, Olga Bogatova, head of the service's press office, told Forum 18 (see below).

In 2025 alone, "at least eight cases of unmotivated violence and cruelty against Jehovah's Witnesses occurred (including those falling under the definition of torture as defined in the UN Convention)", the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses noted (see below).

In November 2025, the Investigative Committee in Krasnodar Region arrested independent Orthodox priest Fr Iona Sigida. During interrogation, investigators beat him, forcibly shaved his hair and beard, and shocked him with a stun gun (see below).

Under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Russia is obliged both to arrest any person suspected on good grounds of having committed, instigated or acquiesced to torture "or take other legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and also to try them under criminal law which makes "these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature" (see below).

In the years since the 2017 Supreme Court ban, nearly 900 Jehovah's Witnesses have faced prosecution for continuing to meet for prayer and Bible study. Courts continue to hand down long jail terms. Among recent convictions, Roman Makhnyov and Dmitry Kuzin were each sentenced to 6 years and 6 months' imprisonment on 13 March (see below).

Frequent reports of torture

Individuals, including Jehovah's Witnesses, have frequently reported experiencing physical assault, inhumane treatment, and threats during raids by police, the FSB, the National Guard (Rosgvardiya), and other state agencies.

Officials are known to have inflicted torture on detainees and prisoners of conscience – including Jehovah's Witnesses - during interrogations and in prison system institutions. In pre-trial detention centres and correctional colonies, prisoners of conscience also face the danger of assault and torture at the hands of fellow inmates, which prison staff may permit or overlook.

In 2025 alone, "at least eight cases of unmotivated violence and cruelty against Jehovah's Witnesses occurred (including those falling under the definition of torture as defined in the UN Convention)", the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses noted in their report on the year.

"Over 70 believers have been subjected to cruel treatment" since the 2017 nationwide ban on Jehovah's Witness communities as an "extremist organisation", they added, with none of the perpetrators being subsequently investigated or punished.

Jehovah's Witnesses who have faced torture include:

- Mikhail Proshenkov, whom Rosgvardiya officers shocked with a stun gun while searching his home in Saratov in September 2025;

- Anna Safronova, whom prison staff repeatedly forced to stand for up to 13 hours in an empty room in her prison colony in March 2025;

- Rinat Karimov, who was tortured by fellow inmates at a prison system medical facility in April 2024;

– Roman Makhnyov (see below), whom FSB officers left standing handcuffed to a heating pipe overnight before his interrogation in June 2019, during which he was denied food for two days;

- and seven men from Surgut in western Siberia, who were hooded, beaten, and given electric shocks after their arrests in February 2019.

One Muslim prosecuted for meeting to read Nursi's works, Yevgeny Kim, reported in 2015 that he had been tortured by fellow inmates while in detention awaiting trial in Blagoveshchensk, and had suffered broken ribs.

In November 2025, the Investigative Committee in Krasnodar Region arrested independent Orthodox priest Fr Iona Sigida on charges of "Dissemination of information expressing overt disrespect for society about days of military glory and commemorative dates of Russia associated with the defence of the Fatherland" (Criminal Code Article 354.1, Part 4). During interrogation, investigators beat Fr Iona, forcibly shaved his hair and beard, and shocked him with a stun gun, a church member told Forum 18 a few days later.

Russia's obligations under Convention against Torture

Russia is a party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."

Under the Convention, Russia is obliged both to arrest any person suspected on good grounds of having committed, instigated or acquiesced to torture "or take other legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and also to try them under criminal law which makes "these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature".

On 29 September 2025, Russia formally withdrew from the Council of Europe's European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The European Union's European External Action Service called this "one more step in Russia's complete disengagement from its international commitments and clearly demonstrates Russia's disregard for the protection of human rights".

Ulyanovsk Region: Tortured, threatened, denied medication

Early in the morning of 3 February 2026, the Federal Security Service (FSB) raided at least four Jehovah's Witness households in the town of Dimitrovgrad in Ulyanovsk Region.

Fifty-seven-year-old Zhanna Popova opened the door to masked officers, one of whom knocked her down as they entered the property, injuring her knee. "It was -25°C outside that day, so it was very cold in the hall", Popova commented to the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses on 18 February. "I was wearing only a nightgown. They pinned me to the floor. I was shaking from shock and the cold. I didn't understand who these people were or what they wanted."

During the subsequent search of their home, one officer forced Popova's husband, 60-year-old Igor Popov, onto the floor. The officer struck him in the back, "forcibly twisting his neck", apparently in an attempt to make him give up his computer password, according to the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses.

After completing the search, the FSB personnel took Popov to an FSB office, where he was handcuffed, stripped, beaten, and "repeatedly subjected to electric shocks". An investigator then forced him to sign a prepared statement "incriminating himself" and agree to cooperate with the investigation.

Popov spent two nights in a temporary detention centre, before Lenin District Court in Ulyanovsk (the regional capital, some 90 kms away) placed him under house arrest on 5 February. He was hospitalised for his injuries from 6 February to 11 February, Jehovah's Witness lawyers told Forum 18 on 11 March – these included haematomas and swelling.

The Popovs and their lawyer lodged complaints about his torture with several state agencies, including Ulyanovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, state-appointed human rights commissioners, and the Investigative Committee at both federal and regional levels. They have so far received no responses.

Investigators have charged Igor Sergeyevich Popov (born 23 June 1965) under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 2 ("Participating in a banned extremist organisation"), according to court records and local news website 73online.ru.

(He should not be confused with fellow Jehovah's Witnesses Igor Ivanovich Popov, from Irkutsk, and Igor Anatolyevich Popov, from Voronezh, who were convicted in December 2024 and in November 2025 respectively.)

The FSB personnel appear to have used similar violence against a young couple whose Dimitrovgrad home they also raided on 3 February. Officers forced both of them to the floor and handcuffed them, the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses stated on 18 February. They lifted the woman onto the bed only after leaving her on the floor for two hours. Her husband, who has "serious medical conditions", was taken into the next room and assaulted as officers demanded that he unlock his phone.

The husband, whom investigators have named as a witness in the case, has also lodged complaints to various state agencies about his treatment during the raid.

FSB officers began searching the home of Igor Yuryevich Balashov (born 5 December 1966) at about 6 am, and did not finish until noon. They then took him to FSB headquarters. According to federal tax records, Balashov was the chair of the Jehovah's Witness local religious organisation in Dimitrovgrad before its liquidation as an "extremist organisation" in 2017.

Investigators did not start to question Balashov until about midnight, the European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses noted, after refusing him food, water, and the medication he needed for chronic illnesses for approximately 20 hours. "As a result, during interrogation, his blood pressure spiked, half of his face went numb, and he began to suffer tremors."

Balashov, who was also made to sign an apparently prepared statement, was kept in temporary detention until 5 February, when Lenin District Court in Ulyanovsk put him under house arrest. Investigators have charged him under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1 ("Organisation of the activity of a social or religious association or other organisation in relation to which a court has adopted a decision legally in force on liquidation or ban on the activity in connection with the carrying out of extremist activity"), according to court records and local news website 73online.ru.

Irina Yuryevna Yelizarova (born 13 August 1974) and Aleksandr Yuryevich Yelizarov (born 4 May 1975), whose home in Dimitrovgrad the FSB also raided on 3 February, do not appear to have suffered assault or torture. Both have been placed in pre-trial detention. Court records indicate that they have both been charged under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 2.

Investigators had Igor Popov, Igor Balashov, Irina Yelizarova, and Aleksandr Yelizarov added to the Rosfinmonitoring "List of Terrorists and Extremists" on 11 February.

Rosgvardiya "not involved" - FSB, Prosecutors, human rights commissioner do not answer questions on torture

Forum 18 wrote to the Federal Security Service (FSB) directorate for Ulyanovsk Region on 12 March, asking:
- why it had considered it necessary to use physical violence against the Dimitrovgrad Jehovah's Witnesses;
- why officers had tortured one man during interrogation;
- and whether the personnel involved have been suspended from duty or placed under investigation.
Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the working day in Ulyanovsk Region of 18 March.

National Guard (Rosgvardiya) troops usually accompany the FSB and other investigative agencies when they arrest Jehovah's Witnesses and search their homes. The Ulyanovsk branch of Rosgvardiya, however, did not participate in the Dimitrovgrad raids, Olga Bogatova, head of the service's press office, told Forum 18 on 17 March.

Forum 18 also sent written enquiries on 12 March to Ulyanovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, Ulyanovsk Region Investigative Committee, the Federal Investigative Committee in Moscow, and federal and regional human rights commissioners, asking whether they are investigating the Jehovah's Witnesses' reports of torture, and whether the officers involved have been suspended from duty or placed under investigation.

On 16 March, Maksim Kartashov, Senior Assistant to the Ulyanovsk Regional Prosecutor for Supervision of Compliance with Laws on Federal Security, Interethnic Relations, and Countering Extremism and Terrorism, passed Forum 18's enquiry on to the Ulyanovsk Garrison Military Prosecutor, asking that he review Forum 18's conclusions "regarding the use of unauthorised investigative methods by employees of state security agencies" and respond to Forum 18. The Regional Prosecutor's Office forwarded this request to Forum 18 on 18 March. Forum 18 had received no response from the military prosecutor by the end of the working day in Ulyanovsk Region of 18 March.

Sergey Lyulkov, state-appointed human rights commissioner for Ulyanovsk Region, responded on 17 March, He did not answer any of Forum 18's questions, but only outlined the procedure for individuals to submit appeals.

Forum 18 had received no response from any of the other state agencies by the end of the working day in Ulyanovsk Region and Moscow of 18 March.

Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslim Nursi readers banned as "extremist" organisations

Russia's Supreme Court declared the Jehovah's Witness Administrative Centre "extremist" and banned its activities – and the activities of its subsidiary organisations – in 2017.

Jehovah's Witnesses argue that the Supreme Court ruling did not outlaw their beliefs. They point to a February 2021 statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Rights, that the ruling "emphasised that when considering the case, it [Supreme Court] evaluated neither the legality of Jehovah's Witness religious beliefs, nor the means of expressing them, but only the specific illegal actions of this organisation [the Jehovah's Witness Administrative Centre and its subsidiaries]".

Muslims who meet to study the writings of the late Turkish theologian Said Nursi are also prosecuted under the Extremism Law. They are accused of organising or participating in the activities of "Nurdzhular", which the Supreme Court banned as an "extremist" organisation in 2008. Muslims in Russia deny any such formal organisation ever existed.

Such Muslims typically meet in homes to study Islam, with one or more expounding on Nursi's works. They also pray, eat, and drink tea together, and do not seek state permission to meet.

Approaching 900 Jehovah's Witness prosecutions

In the years since the 2017 Supreme Court ban, nearly 900 Jehovah's Witnesses have faced prosecution for continuing to meet for prayer and Bible study.

So far, over 660 Jehovah's Witnesses have been convicted, mainly under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1 and Part 2 for organising or leading "the activities of a banned extremist organisation" (three of them posthumously). Courts are known to have handed 205 people prison terms, 333 suspended sentences, 111 fines, and 11 terms of assigned labour. Only one person has so far been acquitted and had this verdict enter and remain in force, while 25 have had the charges against them dropped.

Even before any trial, investigators usually have individuals added to the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) "List of Terrorists and Extremists". This brings many financial consequences, including the freezing of bank accounts except in the case of small transactions.

Individuals with suspended sentences and those released from prison often must spend years under various restrictions and obligations.

Recent criminal convictions, jailings, suspended sentences

The most recent criminal convictions of Jehovah's Witnesses include those of:

– Roman Sergeyevich Makhnyov (born 4 February 1976) and Dmitry Yevgenyevich Kuzin (born 10 July 1965), both sentenced to 6 years and 6 months' imprisonment under Criminal Code Article 282.2 Part 1 (restrictions on freedom and additional punishments unknown) by Kaluga District Court on 13 March 2026;

– Valery Nikolayevich Tolmazov (born 22 December 1954), Maksim Nikolayevich Barbazyuk (born 30 October 1982) (both added to Rosfinmonitoring List on 11 April 2024), and Aleksandr Nikolayevich Kostyuk (born 11 October 1972) (added to Rosfinmonitoring List on 19 April 2024) all sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1 (restrictions on freedom and additional punishments unknown) by Tver's Moscow District Court on 13 February 2026;

– Andrey Aleksandrovich Lukin (born 26 July 1983), sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment, plus 1 year's restrictions on freedom, under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 2 and Criminal Code Article 282.3, Part 1 (added to Rosfinmonitoring List on 16 April 2025) by Dmitrov City Court in Moscow Region on 12 February 2026;

– Nina Grigoryevna Smirnova (born 27 March 1950), Larisa Nikolayevna Serdtseva (born 11 July 1975), and Zhanna Farvazovna Zhavoronkova (born 16 February 1982), who all received suspended sentences of 2 years and 6 months under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 2 (probationary periods and restrictions on freedom unknown) at Shakhunya District Court in Nizhny Novgorod Region on 30 January 2026;

– Vladlena Nikolayevna Kukavitsa (born 23 February 1990), who received a suspended sentence of 4 years and 6 months with 5 years' probation, plus 1 year and 6 months' restrictions on freedom, under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1.1 and Part 2 after a retrial at Birobidzhan District Court (Jewish Autonomous Region) on 22 January 2026.

Most Jehovah's Witnesses appeal against their convictions, but almost all are unsuccessful. When prosecutors challenge sentences they see as too lenient, a few defendants receive harsher punishments on appeal than they did in first-instance courts.

Repeat prosecutions

As more time passes since the 2017 nationwide ban on activities and the first criminal cases, Jehovah's Witnesses have begun to face repeat prosecutions.

On 12 February 2026, Birobidzhan District Court found Oleg Vladimirovich Postnikov (born 24 January 1965) guilty under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1 and sentenced him to 6 years and 2 months' imprisonment, plus 1 year and 8 months of restrictions on freedom and a 4-year ban on leadership or participation in the work of public organisations.

The same court had convicted Postnikov under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1.1 and Part 2 alongside his wife, Agnessa Davydovna Postnikova (born 15 March 1963), on 23 August 2023. On that occasion, the court handed both husband and wife suspended sentences – 5 years and 6 months with 5 years' probation, plus 1 year and 6 months' restrictions on freedom, for Postnikov, and 4 years and 6 months with 5 years' probation, plus 1 year and 6 months' restrictions on freedom, for Postnikova. Postnikov was therefore still serving his first sentence when investigators opened a second criminal case against him in March 2025.

"It's important for me to continue reading the Bible and discussing it with my family, friends, and acquaintances. Because the Bible strengthens my confidence in the future - that there will be paradise on earth and that people will live forever", Postnikov said in his final statement to the court on 10 February 2026.

"But criminal prosecution forces me to renounce my faith in such a wonderful future, to renounce socialising with friends, and to renounce religious services. But I cannot renounce these things, because these are my spiritual needs; they are my meaning in life! How then, according to the prosecutor's office, am I supposed to satisfy them if I have chosen the Jehovah's Witness religion? How can I practice the Jehovah's Witness religion – it is not prohibited by law or by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation – without being accused of continuing the activities of a local religious organisation?"

Similarly, on 13 December 2024, Moscow's Savyolovsky District Court handed Aleksandr Georgiyevich Serebryakov (born 13 April 1977) a 5-year prison term under Criminal Code Article 282.3, Part 1. This was just over two years after his first conviction under Criminal Code Article 282.2, Part 1, for which he received a 6-year suspended sentence with 4 years' probation.

Dmitry Sergeyevich Terebilov (born 2 January 1980) appears to be the only Jehovah's Witness so far to have been convicted for a second time while already serving a custodial sentence for his first offence of "continuing the activities of a banned extremist organisation". (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia

For background information see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

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