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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

BELARUS: Concern and secrecy surround compulsory re-registration process

Officials and most religious leaders Forum 18 reached refuse to discuss how the compulsory re-registration of the more than 3,500 registered religious communities by the deadline of 5 July 2025 is proceeding. The Religious Board of Muslims, a registered religious association, will have to be liquidated as it does not meet new legal requirements. Nor will many village religious communities. Officials so far re-registered only one religious organisation. Officials are to go to court to liquidate all registered communities that fail to gain re-registration by the deadline.

UZBEKISTAN: Religious communities blocked from using own buildings, registering

A wide range of religious communities continue to be blocked from using or repairing their own buildings, forcibly closed, gaining state registration, or having their grounds seized without compensation. These include Bukhara's registered Baptist Union Church, Tashkent Region's Abu Zar Mosque, Gazalkent's local Baptist Union Church, Gulistan's Baptist Church, Urgench Council of Churches Baptists, Jehovah's Witness communities nationwide, and the country's only functioning Buddhist temple in Tashkent. Officials do not answer their phones, refuse to answer, or give evasive excuses when questioned by Forum 18 about this.

RUSSIA: Pentecostal pastor, Buddhist in pre-trial detention for anti-war remarks

Under arrest since 18 October, Moscow Pentecostal pastor Nikolay Romanyuk faces up to 6 years' imprisonment if convicted for preaching in September 2022 that believers should not go to fight in Ukraine "on the basis of Holy Scripture". His arrest came after early-morning armed raids on church members' homes. Under arrest since 22 June is Ilya Vasilyev, director of the Moscow Zen Centre. He is being prosecuted for an online post about Russian rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities which he made "solely out of religious conviction", his lawyer told Forum 18.

KAZAKHSTAN: Court bailiffs burn book seized at border, owner fined

On 12 July, border guards seized "Selected Hadiths" by Muhammad Yusuf Kandhlawi from Russian-based Kyrgyz citizen Sardor Abdullayev. The same day a court fined him 6 weeks' average wages for the book containing "social, national, clan, racial, or religious discord" and ordered it confiscated "with subsequent destruction". Asked what had happened to Abdullayev's book, Raikhan Nurzhalpova, head of North Kazakhstan Regional Justice Department's Implementation of Court Decisions Department, responded: "It was burnt." Under the strict religious censorship system, travellers can import only one copy of any religious book.

KAZAKHSTAN: Religious Affairs Department "fighting against a quote from the Koran?"

Astana's Religious Affairs Department is seeking to punish Nurtas Adambay for quoting from the Koran in a video discussion on Islam on Instagram. "Frankly, I didn't know that in our country it is not allowed to quote a translation of the Koran," he wrote. Astana Inter-District Specialised Administrative Court has not yet heard the case. Department Head Kairolla Keshkali would not say why Adambay should be punished. Courts in Atyrau Region fined two people 3 weeks' average wage each for quoting from the Koran online.

KAZAKHSTAN: Constitutional challenge to sharing faith ban

Courts have twice fined Zhangazy Biimbetov, a Jehovah's Witness from Oskemen, 2 months' average wages for sharing his faith. In July he challenged the constitutionality of the ban on and punishments for sharing faith. The Constitutional Court accepted the case on 4 October but has not yet set a date for a hearing, which will be held in public. No one was available at the regime's Religious Affairs Committee to explain why individuals continue to be punished for talking to others about their faith. Regime-sponsored warnings against so-called "destructive religious movements" and sharing faith are widespread in advertisements – including on bills for utilities and on public transport.

UKRAINE: About 300 criminal cases against conscientious objectors

The number of new criminal cases against conscientious objectors has surged since summer 2024 after the General Prosecutor's Office wrote to local prosecutors. About 300 conscientious objectors now face criminal investigations which could lead – if cases reach court and end in convictions – to a 3 to 5 year jail term. Of the 89 cases related to 86 individuals that have already reached trial (listed in this article), courts handed down 9 jail terms (only one conscientious objector is currently in jail), with 11 suspended sentences. Trials in 66 of the 89 known cases that have reached trial are ongoing.

UZBEKISTAN: "We look for men in beards as we are searching for terrorists"

From March onwards, Muslim men wearing long beards nationwide have been arrested, had their beards forcibly shaved, and been fined. The fines imposed range between about one month's to just over a week's average wages for those in work. Some Muslim men have told Forum 18 that they have since March kept their beards "trimmed and very thin" to avoid such punishments. Police have claimed shaving beards stops young men being "radicalised".