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Forum 18 @Forum_18

Monitoring & analysis of freedom of thought, conscience & belief violations in Central Asia, Russia, South Caucasus, Belarus, Occupied Ukraine

Joined February 2012
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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: "Without any investigation, they're already presuming us guilty", says pastor forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: "Without any investigation, they're already presuming us guilty", says pastor

Prosecutions for religious organisations that fail to give their full legal name on buildings, literature or online are often part of state pressure. In Bryansk, a judge fined League of Salvation...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: January 2025 to April 2026 prosecutions for not showing official full name: list forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: January 2025 to April 2026 prosecutions for not showing official full name: list

Forum 18 found 52 Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 prosecutions in 2025 and the first four months of 2026 for not showing registered religious organisations' official full names on literatu...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: Literature confiscation, destruction, fines for lack of full official name forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: Literature confiscation, destruction, fines for lack of full official name

Administrative cases against religious organisations under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 for failing to give their official full names on literature, online, and on their buildings...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Kyrgyzstan: Secret police's latest target: Baptists forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

KYRGYZSTAN: Secret police's latest target: Baptists

The NSC secret police has – with other state agencies – long obstructed the exercise of freedom of religion or belief, especially by communities it does not like. It has targeted Ahmadi Muslims,...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Kyrgyzstan: Secret police deport Reform Adventist pastor forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

KYRGYZSTAN: Secret police deport Reform Adventist pastor

National Security Committee secret police deported 66-year-old Pastor Pavel Shreider on 9 April. "They put him in a car, took him to the land border and banned him from re-entering the country," an...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Armenia: Conscientious objector's repeat trial delayed and delayed forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

ARMENIA: Conscientious objector's repeat trial delayed and delayed

Molokan conscientious objector Ivan Mikhailov, refused alternative civilian service in 2018, is on criminal trial for the second time. His original 2-year jail term was eventually overturned. His...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Kazakhstan: Anti-war Orthodox priest "kept in forced, absolute isolation from the world" forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

KAZAKHSTAN: Anti-war Orthodox priest "kept in forced, absolute isolation from the world"

On 22 April, an Almaty court extended until 23 May pre-trial detention of 40-year-old independent Orthodox priest Yakov Vorontsov. Arrested on 13 February, he faces criminal charges which he and his...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Belarus: Regime official denies permission for 3 more Catholic priests to remain forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

BELARUS: Regime official denies permission for 3 more Catholic priests to remain

Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak denied permission to Vitebsk Catholic Diocese for three Polish Catholic priests to continue service. Fr Zenon Szcząchor has been...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: Anti-war Moscow Buddhist leader convicted again in re-trial forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: Anti-war Moscow Buddhist leader convicted again in re-trial

A Moscow court jailed Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev for 6 years and banned him from "administering websites". In custody since June 2024, the 52-year-old was convicted in a re-trial for an anti-war...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: Why did "intelligence service" sponsor attacks on French places of worship? forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: Why did "intelligence service" sponsor attacks on French places of worship?

A Serbian court convicted three Serbian nationals in December 2025 of participating in attacks to desecrate 3 Paris synagogues in May 2025 and 9 Paris area mosques in September 2025. "Every time an...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: Anti-war Orthodox journalist's 8-year jail term in absentia forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: Anti-war Orthodox journalist's 8-year jail term in absentia

On 24 March, a Moscow court handed exiled Orthodox journalist Kseniya Luchenko an 8-year jail term in absentia for an online post condemning a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian children's...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Kazakhstan: Husband jailed in Xinjiang, wife to be jailed from 2027 forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

KAZAKHSTAN: Husband jailed in Xinjiang, wife to be jailed from 2027

When Guldaria Sherizat's youngest daughter turns 14 in 2027, her 5-year jail term is set to begin. She was among 19 Kazakhs originally from China's Xinjiang Province convicted in Taldykorgan on 13...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Belarus: Supreme Court rejects last-ditch challenge to Greek Catholic parish liquidation forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

BELARUS: Supreme Court rejects last-ditch challenge to Greek Catholic parish liquidation

Brest Regional Court ended the legal existence of all three previously-registered Greek Catholic parishes in Brest Region. On 9 April, the Supreme Court in Minsk rejected the appeal by the Parish of...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Belarus: Catholic priest arrested – by KGB? forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

BELARUS: Catholic priest arrested – by KGB?

Masked security officers arrested 65-year-old Catholic priest Anatol Parakhnevich in Alkovichi, Minsk Region on 16 March. They have held him since, including over Easter, possibly in Minsk's KGB...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Kyrgyzstan: Freed, fined, to be deported forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

KYRGYZSTAN: Freed, fined, to be deported

66-year-old Pastor Pavel Shreider of the now-banned True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church is awaiting deportation at his own expense. He was freed from prison on 25 March after the...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom Occupied #Ukraine: Born in Krasnodon 66 years ago, now ordered expelled forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Born in Krasnodon 66 years ago, now ordered expelled

On 21 March, Russia's occupation authorities in Ukraine ordered Baptist pastor Vladimir Rytikov to leave what they regard as Russian territory within two weeks. "I was born here and have lived here...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: Handcuffed, stripped, beaten, "repeatedly subjected to electric shocks" forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: Handcuffed, stripped, beaten, "repeatedly subjected to electric shocks"

The FSB raided at least four Jehovah's Witness households in Dimitrovgrad in Ulyanovsk Region early on 3 February. Masked officers knocked down Zhanna Popova when she answered the door. An officer...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Belarus: "Your long-time pastor is leaving your parish against his will" forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

BELARUS: "Your long-time pastor is leaving your parish against his will"

Polish Catholic parish priest Fr Paweł Kruczek had served in Belarus for almost 20 years, Fr Adam Straczyński for 11 years. Their Bishop describes their "forced departure" as "painful". The regime's...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Belarus: Praying daily for "speedy and honest restoration" of Red Church forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

BELARUS: Praying daily for "speedy and honest restoration" of Red Church

Asked if Saints Simon and Helena Catholic Church (Red Church) in central Minsk will be returned for worship once renovations are complete in January 2027, Deputy Plenipotentiary for Religious and...

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#HumanRights #FoRB #ReligiousFreedom #Russia: Revocation of citizenship after extremism convictions "gaining momentum" forum18.org/archive.php?arti…

RUSSIA: Revocation of citizenship after extremism convictions "gaining momentum"

Born in Soviet Uzbekistan, Rustam Diarov had his Russian citizenship revoked in February 2025 while he was in jail to punish him for participation in Jehovah's Witness meetings. On 17 February 2026,...

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