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
28 August 2024
UZBEKISTAN: Given punishment cell "so he will stay in prison longer"
The prison administration in Akhangaran sent 26-year-old Faryozbek Kobilov to the punishment cell for two days in early August. He was hoping for early release in September. Prison authorities told his parents he now has no chance for early release because he violated the prison regime. "The authorities imprisoned him for no crimes and now they are trying to keep him there for longer." Prisoner of conscience Alimardon Sultonov was sent to a punishment cell for five days in July. The prison Governors refused to explain the punishments.
21 August 2024
UKRAINE: Real threats, but freedom of religion or belief concerns
Clerics and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC) have and are facing criminal charges of justifying Russian aggression and hate speech. Many have been prosecuted for criticising the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the state's religious policies. The state faces a real threat of the utilisation of religion to justify Russian aggression, but uses tools - imposing a blatant ban on the UOC and turning inter-Orthodox relations in Ukraine into a security issue - that are neither reasonable nor proportionate.
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.