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Forum 18
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Monitoring & analysis of freedom of thought, conscience & belief violations in Central Asia, Russia, South Caucasus, Belarus, Occupied Ukraine
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#Kazakhstan: Prosecutors stall criminal investigation into police torture of Jehovah's Witness

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KAZAKHSTAN: Prosecutors stall criminal investigation into police torture of Jehovah's Witness
A court had to order Kentau Prosecutor's Office to begin a criminal investigation into police torture of and murder threats to Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev on 13 August. But prosecutors stall...
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November 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM
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#Russia: Exiled Orthodox journalist facing criminal charges added to Wanted List

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RUSSIA: Exiled Orthodox journalist facing criminal charges added to Wanted List
Russia's Interior Ministry Wanted List includes: 4 opponents of Russia's war against Ukraine on religious grounds; 7 Muslim Nursi readers from Russia; 15 Jehovah's Witnesses from Russia, 4 from Russia...
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November 12, 2025 at 3:43 PM
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#Russia: Bans on Council of Churches Baptist congregations "only growing"

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RUSSIA: Bans on Council of Churches Baptist congregations "only growing"
Courts have now banned at least 10 Council of Churches Baptist communities for meeting without state permission. (These Baptists choose to meet without registration.) "This practice is only growing", ...
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November 4, 2025 at 5:22 PM
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#Belarus: KGB tried to use jailed priest to entrap nuncio?

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BELARUS: KGB tried to use jailed priest to entrap nuncio?
KGB secret police officers offered to free jailed Catholic priest Fr Henryk Okolotovich if he agreed to plant material on the Vatican nuncio in an apparent attempt to compromise him. He refused. KGB o...
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October 31, 2025 at 12:20 PM
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#Russia: More long jail sentences, removals of citizenship

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RUSSIA: More long jail sentences, removals of citizenship
Courts handed at least 3 Jehovah's Witnesses long jail terms for exercising freedom of religion since September. A Samara court jailed Samvel Babayan for 7 years. A Saransk court jailed Ivan Neverov f...
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October 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
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#Russia: Another Jehovah's Witness tortured during arrest

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RUSSIA: Another Jehovah's Witness tortured during arrest
Armed National Guard personnel tortured 58-year-old Mikhail Proshenkov with a stun gun while searching his home on 3 September. Proshenkov was one of five Jehovah's Witnesses arrested during early-mor...
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October 20, 2025 at 12:43 PM
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#Kyrgyzstan: Did torture cause jailed Reform Adventist pastor's brain damage?

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KYRGYZSTAN: Did torture cause jailed Reform Adventist pastor's brain damage?
65-year-old True and Free Reform Adventist Pastor Pavel Shreider – serving a 3-year jail term – is in a prison medical unit after relatives raised concerns about brain damage apparently caused by tort...
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October 14, 2025 at 5:25 PM
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#Kyrgyzstan: Secret police raid, police fine Baptists for "illegal" worship meeting

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KYRGYZSTAN: Secret police raid, police fine Baptists for "illegal" worship meeting
Ten months after NSC secret police officers raided members of the True and Free Reform Adventist Church (which a court later banned), on 14 September NSC officers raided the harvest festival worship m...
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October 10, 2025 at 12:36 PM
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#Uzbekistan: Prisoners of conscience pressured to implicate others, banned from reading Koran

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UZBEKISTAN: Prisoners of conscience pressured to implicate others, banned from reading Koran
Qorovulbozor Prison officials threatened prisoner of conscience Khayrullo Tursunov to further implicate seven fellow Muslims jailed alongside him. "We are not sure, but others arrested with him may ha...
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September 30, 2025 at 11:58 AM
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#Azerbaijan: State restricts who can worship and where

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AZERBAIJAN: State restricts who can worship and where
Sumgait's Peace Church is one of five Protestant churches whose registration applications languish unanswered, some for years. State Committee officials "simply told us that you cannot hold any more m...
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September 19, 2025 at 12:47 PM
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#Kazakhstan: Kentau Police use torture, murder threats

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KAZAKHSTAN: Kentau Police use torture, murder threats
On 13 August, Kentau Police tortured Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev and threatened him with death until he admitted "illegal missionary activity". Freed after six hours, friends took him to hos...
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September 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
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#Uzbekistan: Samarkand Muslim to be tried for Shia Telegram chat group?

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UZBEKISTAN: Samarkand Muslim to be tried for Shia Telegram chat group?
Amid a crackdown on Shia Muslims in Samarkand, police in May forced a detained Shia to open up his phone. They discovered a Telegram chat group to discuss Shia Islam. Officers arrested 10 men, questio...
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September 8, 2025 at 9:25 AM
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#Russia: Protestant pastor jailed for 2022 anti-war sermon

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RUSSIA: Protestant pastor jailed for 2022 anti-war sermon
On 3 September, Balashikha City Court jailed 63-year-old Pastor Nikolay Romanyuk for 4 years for a 2022 sermon that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "not our war". "Yes, I gave a sermon in which I tou...
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September 5, 2025 at 11:56 AM
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Occupied #Ukraine: Russian-imposed punishments for meeting for worship, sharing faith

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OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Russian-imposed punishments for meeting for worship, sharing faith
Russian Police and Anti-Extremism Police in occupied Ukraine raided Council of Churches Baptist worship meetings, on 8 June in Krasnodon and on 10 August in Sverdlovsk. Russian-controlled Krasnodon To...
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September 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
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Occupied #Ukraine: Criminal case against Jehovah's Witness "leader"

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OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Criminal case against Jehovah's Witness "leader"
Russian officials in occupied Donetsk Region arrested and charged a man identified only as K. for being a "leader of the banned religious organisation Jehovah's Witnesses". The Russian-controlled Done...
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August 29, 2025 at 10:27 AM
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#Azerbaijan: First jailing of conscientious objector for 3 years

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AZERBAIJAN: First jailing of conscientious objector for 3 years
On 30 July, Yevlakh District Court jailed 19-year-old Jehovah's Witness Elgiz Ibrahimov for one year for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Officials arrested him in the co...
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August 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM
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#Russia: Council of Churches Baptist communities banned

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RUSSIA: Council of Churches Baptist communities banned
Council of Churches Baptists continue to meet for worship outside their church building in Kurganinsk in Krasnodar Region, three months after bailiffs sealed it. They were enforcing a September 2024 c...
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August 20, 2025 at 4:15 PM
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#Kyrgyzstan: Supreme Court permanently bans Reform Adventists as "extremist"

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KYRGYZSTAN: Supreme Court permanently bans Reform Adventists as "extremist"
On 4 August, three Supreme Court judges rejected the True and Free Reform Adventist Church's appeal against their banning as "extremist". The Judges "were so swift to go through the case materials wit...
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August 14, 2025 at 4:12 PM
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#Russia: Old Catholic priest fined for anti-war sermons

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RUSSIA: Old Catholic priest fined for anti-war sermons
Fr Aleksandr Khmelyov, an Old Catholic priest, left Russia on 11 July after Telegram channels thought to be linked to state security services claimed investigators were preparing further administrativ...
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July 30, 2025 at 7:31 AM
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#Azerbaijan: Large fines for religious meeting

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AZERBAIJAN: Large fines for religious meeting
Officers were watching a home in Nakhichevan where Christians were meeting. About 20 officers raided a Sunday worship meeting in April. They held three visitors from Baku for two days without food. Po...
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July 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
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#Ukraine: Official claims "social outrage" prevents Romanian Orthodox registration

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UKRAINE: Official claims "social outrage" prevents Romanian Orthodox registration
A Religious Association of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Ukraine lodged a registration application in August 2024. The State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) did not accept...
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July 25, 2025 at 10:07 AM
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#Kyrgyzstan: Reform Adventist Pastor's 3-year jail term plus deportation

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KYRGYZSTAN: Reform Adventist Pastor's 3-year jail term plus deportation
In November 2024 the NSC secret police arrested and tortured True and Free Reform Adventist Pastor Pavel Shreider, placing him in pre-trial detention. In March 2025 a court banned his Church as "extre...
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July 14, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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#Belarus: "God may be calling you to church, but prison officials decide"

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BELARUS: "God may be calling you to church, but prison officials decide"
Four of the freed political prisoners recount restrictions on prisoners' exercise of freedom of religion or belief. Political prisoners are barred from attending Orthodox prison chapels. "God may be c...
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July 10, 2025 at 3:50 PM
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#Russia: Buddhist leader given longest known anti-war jail term

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RUSSIA: Buddhist leader given longest known anti-war jail term
A Moscow court jailed Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev on 25 June for eight years for allegedly disseminating "knowingly false information" about Russia's Armed Forces, the longest known prison term for ...
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July 4, 2025 at 11:19 AM
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#Tajikistan: Denial of "qualified medical care" led to Ismaili leader's prison death?

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TAJIKISTAN: Denial of "qualified medical care" led to Ismaili leader's prison death?
Seriously ill prisoner of conscience Muzaffar Davlatmirov, a leading Ismaili Muslim khalifa (cleric) from Mountainous Badakhshan, and his relatives repeatedly called for his transfer from prison to ho...
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June 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM