4 March 2025

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Religious freedom survey, March 2025

Freedom of religion or belief and interlinked human rights are seriously violated in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Forum 18's survey analysis documents among other violations: serious systemic freedom of religion or belief violations starting with the initial March 2014 invasion; pressuring, kidnapping, torturing, jailing, and murdering religious leaders; stopping meetings for worship, banning and closing religious communities; jailing prisoners of conscience for exercising freedom of religion or belief; banning religious texts and purging libraries; and "anti-missionary" prosecutions. Until Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory is ended, the freedom of religion or belief and other human rights violations seem set to continue.

26 February 2025

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Orthodox priest illegally transferred to Russian labour camp

Fr Kostiantyn Maksimov – who served a Ukrainian Orthodox parish in Tokmak in Russian-occupied Ukraine – arrived on 11 February at a strict regime labour camp in Russia's Saratov Region. Occupation forces seized him in May 2023. In November 2024 a closed hearing in absentia in Moscow rejected his appeal against his 14-year sentence on "espionage" charges. The Russian-installed Crimean Ombudsperson's Office refused to explain why Russian authorities illegally transfer prisoners from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine – like Fr Kostiantyn and Jehovah's Witness prisoners of conscience - to prisons in Russia.

25 February 2025

KYRGYZSTAN: Religious freedom survey, February 2025

Freedom of religion and belief and interlinked human rights are under increasing threat in Kyrgyzstan. Forum 18's survey analysis documents: a 2025 Religion Law which among many other violations continues to ban exercise of freedom of religion or belief without state permission and denies communities without 500 adults from being allowed to exist; arbitrary refusals to grant registration to communities seeking state permission to exist; jailing and fining critics of the regime's freedom of religion or belief violations; and failures to bring the perpetrators of violent attacks to justice.

21 February 2025

UZBEKISTAN: Prisoner of conscience facing extra third jail term?

A court jailed prisoner of conscience Fariduddin Abduvokhidov for 11 years in 2020 for discussing Islam with others, and another court added an extra 10 years in 2023. Now the 30-year-old is on trial for a third time accused of distributing "religious extremist" material and leading a "religious extremist" organisation while in prison. Judge Bahodir Alikulov of Navoi City Court refused to say why Abduvokhidov is being prosecuted for the same "crimes" now in prison. "I cannot share the details of the trial with you based on our Procedural Code," he insisted.

19 February 2025

UZBEKISTAN: Torturers' impunity "is mockery not justice"

Officials of Bukhara Region Prison No. 1 repeatedly tortured Muslim prisoner of conscience Tulkun Astanov. Prison officer Davr Sottiyev severely beat him and pledged to "give Astanov an injection which will soon kill him", a local Muslim told Forum 18. Despite complaints, the regime has taken no action against the suspect torturers. In January 2025 the Prison Governor called relatives with an implied threat of punishment if they lodge complaints. The Interior Ministry's Chief Directorate for the Enforcement of Punishments, General Prosecutor's Office, and Ombudsperson's Office refused to answer Forum 18's questions.

13 February 2025

TURKMENISTAN: Second conscientious objector sentenced to corrective labour

A second Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector is serving a corrective labour sentence, where the state takes a fifth of his wages. On 27 January, a Dashoguz Region court sentenced 20-year-old Agabek Rozbayew to 18 months' corrective labour. The indictment shows he informed the Military Conscription Office in September 2022 that he could not perform compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. More than 10 others appear to be under criminal investigation. An assistant to regime-appointed Ombudsperson Yazdursun Gurbannazarowa told Forum 18: "I have never heard of such kinds of problems." Muslim prisoner of conscience Myratdurdy Shamyradow is paralysed in prison hospital.

10 February 2025

RUSSIA: Multiple trials, convictions, for criticising invasion of Ukraine

Christian preacher Eduard Charov's trial for repeatedly allegedly "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces and state bodies is due soon. Buddhist Ilya Vasilyev is on trial for allegedly spreading "knowingly false information" about the Armed Forces "on grounds of hatred or enmity". Pastor Nikolay Romanyuk, tortured while arrested, is under investigation for preaching that "on the basis of Holy Scripture" Christians should not fight in Ukraine. On 27 January, Christian bard Andrey Buyanov received possibly the largest total fine yet for criticising from a religious perspective Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

5 February 2025

CRIMEA: Two more Jehovah's Witness prisoners of conscience jailed

On 14 January, a Russian-controlled court in the occupied Ukrainian city of Sevastopol jailed two Jehovah's Witnesses, 53-year-old Sergey Zhigalov and 55-year-old Viktor Kudinov, for six years each for organising the activities of a banned "extremist" organisation. They have appealed against the sentence. Eleven of the 13 jailed Crimean Jehovah's Witnesses have been illegally transferred to Russian prisons. Two other trials against 5 Jehovah's Witnesses are underway, including against 69-year-old Tamara Brattseva. It is illegal under international law for Russia to enforce its own laws in occupied Ukrainian territory.