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
20 August 2024
ARMENIA: Conscientious objector begins two-year jail term
On 20 August, Yerevan police took 21-year-old Baptist conscientious objector Davit Nazaretyan to the city's Nubarashen Prison to begin his two-year jail term for refusing military service on grounds of conscience. Nina Karapetyants of the Helsinki Association for Human Rights described Nubarashen as "the worst prison" in Armenia. "There are no proper conditions for exercise or for taking a shower." The office of Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan did not respond to questions on what it might do to defend Nazaretyan's rights.
15 August 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Why can't places of worship reopen?
A secret police officer and religious affairs official visited Abu Zar Mosque in Yangiyul District, saying it would be handed over for business use. "They just came, brazenly told us this and said that no one from the mahalla should get angry," said a Muslim. Officials refuse Bukhara's Baptist Church permission to rebuild its church, which they sealed after water damage in 2021. "Last year at least they were listening to us," Baptists say. "Now some officials tell us directly to our face: Leave my office and get lost!"
13 August 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Who instigated Church demolition?
On 25 April, Judge Nurlubay Akimniyazov ordered the destruction of two buildings under construction belonging to Urgench Council of Churches Baptists. The decision, which against Uzbek law the Baptists have not seen, entered into force on 27 May. Demolition began on 30 July. One of the buildings was intended to be a church. The Judge, regime officials, and state-appointed Muslim clerics have either refused to explain the demolition order or given contradictory explanations, and officials have stated they are "determined to complete the demolition sooner or later".
8 August 2024
RUSSIA: Anti-war Christian preacher facing criminal prosecutions
In 2023, Christian preacher Eduard Charov was fined for social media comments, including the remark: "would Jesus Christ have gone to kill in Ukraine????!" He now awaits criminal trial for further anti-war posts "discrediting" the armed forces. "Most likely, it will all end with a prison term for me", he noted. Information on Charov's case "is not subject to disclosure", the Investigative Committee said. Orthodox priest Fr Ioann Kurmoyarov, jailed for also criticising Russia's war in Ukraine from a religious perspective, was freed at the end of his sentence.
5 August 2024
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Orthodox priest's 14-year "espionage" jail term
At a closed hearing at the Russian-controlled Crimean Supreme Court in Simferopol on 2 August, Zaporizhzhia Regional Court jailed 41-year-old Ukrainian Orthodox priest Fr Kostiantyn Maksimov in a strict regime labour camp for 14 years on "espionage" charges. "I'm in such shock," his mother Svetlana Maksimova told Forum 18. He is likely to be illegally transferred to Russia after any appeal. On 15 August, a verdict is expected in the criminal trial of Olena, a Protestant from Melitopol facing up to 10 years' imprisonment for remarks at a prayer meeting.
30 July 2024
TURKMENISTAN: Protestant pastor faces arrest threats
In early July, a mosque official in Dogryyol, Juman Illiyev, told worshippers that local Protestant Pastor Rahymjan Borjakov "will sooner or later be locked up", with work "already underway". In mid-July, officials visited the family home seeking relatives' car numbers and places of work or study. Relatives (many of them not Christians) received "threatening and insulting" phone calls from a number assigned to a man named Ylham from the Police 7th Department which controls religion. The man who answered that phone refused to answer any questions. Muslims too face pressure.
25 July 2024
RUSSIA: Two more Muslims jailed for religious study meetings
A Moscow court has jailed two more Muslims for meeting to study their faith using the works of the theologian Said Nursi. The Judge jailed Zurab Dzhabrailov for 6 years and Dzheykhun Rustamov for 2 years and 9 months. Courts have banned many of Nursi's writings as "extremist" and consider groups of readers as "extremist". Kuzminsky District Court did not answer Forum 18's questions as to why it had imposed jail sentences, in what way Dzhabrailov and Rustamov are considered dangerous, and who had been harmed by their actions.
23 July 2024
ARMENIA: Only some conscientious objectors allowed alternative service
Armenia's Alternative Service Commission has repeatedly refused most applications for alternative civilian service from traditionally pacifist Molokans. They then – like Baptist conscientious objector to military service Davit Nazaretyan - face the possibility of being jailed for their beliefs. No official has been willing to explain to Forum 18 why such discriminatory treatment happens. Jailing conscientious objectors to military service and not respecting their right to a genuinely civilian alternative service violates Armenia's legally-binding international human rights obligations.
18 July 2024
ARMENIA: Conscientious objector "could be taken to jail at any time"
On 16 July, one week before his 21st birthday, Baptist conscientious objector Davit Nazaretyan received the Cassation Court's rejection of his final appeal against his two-year jail term. His application for alternative service had been rejected. "Davit could be taken to jail at any time," his pastor, Mikhail Shubin, told Forum 18 from Yerevan. "I am very disappointed by this decision," human rights defender Isabella Sargsyan of the Eurasia Partnership Foundation told Forum 18. "It is important to follow this particular case as well as the system more generally."
12 July 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Planned new punishments for parents allowing children's religious education
The regime's non-freely-elected parliament has adopted in the first reading a draft law to allegedly "further strengthen the rights of children". The draft Law would ban and introduce punishments for parents or guardians who allow their children to receive "illegal" religious education before the age of 18. Many of the people the regime rules have expressed strong opposition to the draft Law. The regime is also planning to tighten the existing state censorship with a new Information Code.
1 July 2024
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: One arrest, one reported jail term, two releases
Russian occupation officials refuse to give any information about 44-year-old Ukrainian Orthodox Church priest Feognost Pushkov, arrested on 20 June. Officials have been investigating his social media posts and searched his home in Prosyanoe in occupied Luhansk Region. Fr Feognost was sole carer for his elderly mother. Unconfirmed reports say the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Regional Court sentenced a Protestant in her fifties to a 7-year jail term. She was prosecuted for comments at a home prayer meeting. Russia freed Greek Catholic priests Bohdan Heleta and Ivan Levytsky on 28 June after 19 months.
24 June 2024
RUSSIA: Further jail term for answering fellow prisoners' questions about faith?
For the first time, a Jehovah's Witness prisoner of conscience is on trial in Kostroma for his exercise of freedom of religion or belief while imprisoned. Dmitry Terebilov answered questions about his faith from a fellow prisoner. Officials have not explained why answering questions constitutes involving another person in an "extremist" organisation. The camp administration has recordings of his conversations, but prison officials have not said whether and why they kept him under surveillance. If found guilty, he could receive a further sentence of several years, on top of his present 3-year term.