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Top forum18.org News

RUSSIA: "Missionary activity" prosecutions January 2024 to April 2025
Russia, Moscow Oblast · Russia

RUSSIA: "Missionary activity" prosecutions January 2024 to April 2025

The 124 known prosecutions under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") and Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity") between January 2024 and April 2025 are listed. First-instance courts (in one case police) convicted 107 defendants and acquitted three. They closed or returned a further 12 cases to police or prosecutors. Two cases which reached court after the permitted three-month period…Read Article
RUSSIA: Foreigners face summary expulsion for illegal "missionary activity"
Russia, Moscow Oblast · Russia

RUSSIA: Foreigners face summary expulsion for illegal "missionary activity"

On 5 February, amendments to the Administrative Code entered force allowing police - without having to go to court - to fine and expel from Russia foreign citizens who conduct "illegal missionary activity". Forum 18 has so far found one such case. Among earlier cases, in October 2024, 85-year-old Catholic priest Władysław Kloc lost his appeal against a fine and expulsion for leading worship in his parish. Most known prosecutions of foreign cit…Read Article
RUSSIA: Prosecutions for unlawful "missionary activity" – 2024 to 2025
Russia, Moscow Oblast · Russia

RUSSIA: Prosecutions for unlawful "missionary activity" – 2024 to 2025

At least 90 people in 2024 and 34 in January-April 2025 were prosecuted for unlawful "missionary activity". Fines are typically several weeks' average wages, but foreigners can be deported. A Kurganinsk Magistrate's Court fined six Baptists – including Pastor Aleksandr Chmykh - for leading worship meetings. A Stavropol Muslim teacher was fined for leading prayers and Koranic studies for girls. Police and prosecutors did not respond on why they…Read Article

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: "Bishop says no" on Ukrainian Orthodox entities

The Russian-controlled Justice Department requested an "expert conclusion" on a Brotherhood of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Russian-occupied Luhansk from Russia's Justice Ministry. Its Expert Council said the Brotherhood provided "deliberately false information that it operates as part of the Luhansk diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that is, a structure that does not in reality exist". It cited Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Panta…Department of Justice · LuhanskRead Article

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Raids, registration pressure, places of worship deemed "ownerless"

A prosecutor and police in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region raided Krasnodon's Council of Churches Baptist congregation's Pentecost worship meeting on 8 June. "The main issue is the registration of the church!" Pastor Vladimir Rytikov noted. Asked if she could explain why Krasnodon Police raided the Church, the duty officer said only: "We can't." Occupation authorities threaten other Baptist congregations that meet without seeking permission. The…Luhans'ka Oblast · Luhans'ka OblastRead Article

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: "Missionary" fines, "so-called religious services"

A court in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk fined Pastor Vladimir Rudomyotkin several days' average local wage on 23 May for alleged missionary activity. His Council of Churches Baptist congregation meets without seeking permission from officials. Two days earlier, another Donetsk court punished St Joseph Roman Catholic parish for allegedly failing to give its official full name "within the framework of missionary activity". An Enerhodar cou…Wages · DonetskRead Article

KYRGYZSTAN: Court bans True and Free Adventist Church as "extremist"

Only four people were apparently present - Judge Ayke Musayeva, her secretary, the prosecutor who brought the suit and an NSC secret police officer – when Alamudun District Court banned the True and Free Adventist Church as "extremist" on 19 March. Church members found out two days later, when the ban was already in force. Their lawyer is preparing a Supreme Court challenge. The ban was based on NSC-commissioned "expert analyses" of books seiz…Alamudun · AlamudunRead Article

KAZAKHSTAN: Released prisoner banned from attending mosque

An official banned a released prisoner from attending mosque, threatening punishment for doing so or congratulating fellow Muslims after Friday prayers. The individual is the only one Forum 18 has found specifically banned from visiting places of worship. However, bans on "membership or participation in" religious organisations are common. Officials have not explained whether such bans include attending places of worship. Muslim prisoners of con…Almaty · AlmatyRead Article

BELARUS: Police take relatives' DNA after KGB declares religious freedom group "extremist"

On 1 April the KGB ruled that religious freedom group Christian Vision, its website and social media channels are "extremist" and banned. Police raided the homes of three relatives of Dzmitry Korneyenko, one of the members identified by the KGB, taking DNA samples from two. "When [my brother] asked the police why they needed his DNA, they responded that it made it easier for them to hunt for me," Korneyenko said. Orsha District Police refused to…DNASee the Story

BELARUS: "They decided to fabricate a case and accuse him of espionage"

On 1 April, the Supreme Court rejected Catholic priest Henryk Okolotovich's appeal against his 11-year jail term on treason charges. Both his trial and appeal were closed. In a message from prison, he denied "espionage for Poland and the Vatican". He rejected pressure to implicate the country's Catholic bishops. "Priests are being persecuted to shut our mouths, so that the Catholic Church does not tell the truth." Even before his arrest, the 65-…Catholic Church · BelarusSee the Story

Vigil to remember conscientious objectors to be held in May

100% Center coverage: 1 sources
Carlisle Quakers will hold a vigil to remember conscientious objectors at Hardwick Circus in Carlisle in May.Carlisle, England · CarlisleSee the Story

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