RUSSIA: Freedom of religion or belief : Special Bimonthly FORB Digest (16-30.06.2021)
30.06.21 – Two long-time Jehovah’s Witnesses given harsh sentences
Full text only in Russian: https://graniru.org/Society/Law/m.282071.html
The city court of Blagoveshchensk of Amur oblast sentenced two Jehovah’s Witnesses—30-year-old Dmitry Golik and 43-year-old Aleksei Berchuk—to seven and eight years of medium security imprisonment, Mediazona reports, citing the press service of the religious organization.
30.06.21 – Moscow patriarchate against the union of Rome and Constantinople
Yesterday there was a meeting between the pope and the delegation of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. The Russian Orthodox have always contested the primacy of Bartholomew. Kremlin: The West wants “Orthodox schism” and to impose a doctrine according to which “even Jesus Christ was a bisexual”
27.06.21 – Ukrainian Baptist goes to Russia seeking converts
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.kavkazr.com/a/31328599.html
The May district court of Kabardino-Balkaria [Republic—K.B.R.] found a Ukrainian citizen, Pavel Gerashenko, guilty of illegal evangelism. The pastor was brought to administrative accountability on only the third attempt, since the administrative materials of the police lacked complete information about the violation.
25.06.21 – Novokuznetsk: RUSSIA: “Extremist organisations” suspended sentences and fines – list
Courts have handed suspended sentences of between two and seven years on “extremism”-related charges to 70 Jehovah’s Witnesses as a result of the 2017 Supreme Court ban on their activity. A Muslim who reads Said Nursi’s works has completed a two-year suspended sentence. Courts have fined 11 Jehovah’s Witnesses and two Muslims on the same “extremism”-related charges. While 29 Jehovah’s Witnesses and 1 Muslim have been given jail terms, suspended sentences are now the most common form of punishment.
24.06.21 – Evangelicals of south Russia face charges
Link to full text in Russian: https://www.kavkazr.com/a/31324318.html
Four religious figures from [the republic of] Adygea have become subjects of administrative cases regarding missionary activity. This refers to pastors of several evangelical churches.
In Maikop, administrative materials have been collected with regard to Konsantin Loskutov, who, according to information from Kavkaz.Realii’s source, is a pastor of the “Fellowship of Christian Businessmen.”
24.06.21 – Prosecutor demands harsh sentences for elderly Jehovah’s Witness couple
Link to full text in Russian: https://cutt.ly/0mjmQaC
On 23 June in the Metalurgical district court of Cheliabinsk, the prosecutor asked for seven years in prison for 75-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Vladimir Suvorov. This is reported by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia portal.
23.06.21 – Russia readies implementation of new law affecting religion
Link to full text in Russian: https://ria.ru/20210623/attestatsiya-1738289558.html
Clergy who have received education abroad will be able to be recertified in Russia both in existing religious educational institutions and in special courses in secular educational institutions; the list of them may be drawn up by September, reported the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Development of Civil Society and Affairs of Public and Religious Associations, Sergei Gavrilov, at a press confere3nce in the “Russia Today” International News Agency.