14.05.2021 – How will re-training of foreign-trained clergy be implemented?

From October, when new Religion Law amendments come into force, all clergy, religious teachers and missionaries working for registered religious organisations who have trained abroad will need to undertake a course in “state-confessional relations in the Russian Federation”. They will then need to be re-certified by a centralised religious organisation before being permitted to begin work for the first time. How the amendments will be applied in practice “is a big question”, commented Stanislav Kulov of the Slavic Centre for Law and Justice.

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14.05.21 – Freedom of conscience, thought and religion

On April 8, Marina Matiushenko, ‘ a judge of peace’, issued a warning to the «LOVE OF CHRIST» Church of Evangelical Pentecostal Christians under Art. 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offences (Illegal Missionary Activity) for publications on a social network describing the activities of the organization.

The administrative proceedings under RF CoAO article 5.26 were also started against the «Bread of Life» Church of Evangelical Christians, Kerch City.

In April, the CHRG registered 3 new ad- ministrative proceedings in Crimea under Art. 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, including 2 — regarding the Alushta Muslim community and its imam Yusuf Ashyrov based on the reports drawn up after the search in the mosque on March 30, 2021. The imam was accused of conducting Friday prayers, and the community was accused of having religious literature in the mosque.

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14.05.21 – Vladivostok Appeal Court upholds the guilty verdict against 77-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Vladimir Filippov

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/141410.html

On May 14, 2021, the Primorye Territory Court in Vladivostok upheld the sentence to Vladimir Filippov for his faith. The court considered the peaceful confession of the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses to be the activity of a banned legal entity. However, the court overturned the order to destroy material evidence.

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14.05.21 – Six accused and new articles. Court hearings on second case against Jehovah’s Witnesses begin in Karpinsk

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/140833.html

On April 29, 2021, the Karpinsky City Court received a second case against Alexander Pryanikov, Daria and Venus Dulov. This time, three more defendants appear in the case: Anastasia Pryanikova, Svetlana Zalyaeva and her husband Ruslan, who is not a Jehovah’s Witness. Judge Vera Dranitsina will consider the case.

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13.05.21 – An appeal in Birobidzhan toughens the sentence against Yuliya Kaganovich

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/131516.html

On May 13, 2021, the Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region toughened the verdict handed down to Yuliya Kaganovich by the court of first instance for participating in the activities of a banned organization. Judges replaced the previously appointed monetary fine for 2.5 years of imprisonment with a suspended sentence of 1 year.

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13.05.21 – An appeal in Birobidzhan upheld the conditional sentence of 56-Year-Old believer Konstantin Guzev

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/131312.html

On May 13, 2021, the Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region upheld the sentence to Konstantin Guzev from Birobidzhan – 2.5 years of suspended imprisonment with restriction of liberty for 1 year.

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13.05.21 – Jehovah’s Witness woman’s legal appeal proves costly

Link to full text in Russian: https://credo.press/237168/

A court in the Jewish autonomous oblast made the sentence more severe for the Jehovah’s Witness Svetlana Monis, who had previously been found guilty of extremism because of her faith in Jehovah. She was given a punishment in the form of a suspended sentence of 2.5 years with a probation of two years, a correspondent for the portal Credo.Press reports, citing a source within the Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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11.05.21 – Attempts to eliminate Siberia’s autonomous Jewish region

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin has proposed to unite it with the Khabarovsk region. It is a small and poor region (220,000 inhabitants), but Jews have taken refuge in this area since the tsar’s pogroms to escape persecution.

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07.05.21 – Russian Hindus prohibited from celebrating Maha Shivratri Festival

A woman who organized the celebration in Udmurtia was charged for “illegal missionary activity.”

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06.05.21 – Konstantin Bazhenov, convicted for his faith, released from the colony, but detained for deportation

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/2.html

On 5 May 2021, 45-year-old Konstantin Bazhenov was released on parole from the penal colony in Dimitrovgrad but was sent to the temporary detention center for foreign citizens, as his Russian citizenship was revoked due to criminal prosecution. The believer will be deported to the territory of Ukraine.

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04.05.21 – New searches in Kuzbass: Two believers from Kaltan Town were detained

Link to full text in Russian: https://jw-russia.org/news/2021/05/1.html

On the morning of May 2, 2021, searches were carried out in the small town of Kaltan, Kemerovo Region. Two men, 49-year-old Vitaliy Syrykh and 53-year-old Aleksandr Tsikunov, were detained and sent to a temporary detention center.

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