RUSSIA: Religious issues and persecution: Bimonthly Digest March 16-31
31.03.2025 – In Konakovo, the court announced the verdict in the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Sova – Four believers were sentenced to six years in a colony. The case against another defendant was separated into separate proceedings.
On March 27, 2025, the Konakovsky City Court of the Tver region sentenced four Jehovah’s Witnesses – Alexander Starikov, Alexei Kuznetsov, Oleg Katamov and Alexander Shchetinin – six years in a general regime colony, a year of restriction of liberty and three years of ban on activities related to the posting appeals and other materials on the Internet. They were found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). The case against another believer Sergei Naumenko was allocated to a separate proceeding, he is accused under the same article.
28.03.2025 – Second jail term for discussing faith during first term
Forum 18 – Jehovah’s Witness Dmitry Terebilov was due for release from his 3-year prison term in September 2024. But he was already being prosecuted for answering a fellow-prisoner’s questions about his faith. Using covert recordings, a court in Kostroma jailed him for just over five years for “continuing the activities of a banned extremist organisation”. “I cannot understand what evil I have committed and to whom,” Terebilov told the court. Neither the court nor the Prosecutor’s Office responded to questions. A Vladivostok court jailed two Jehovah’s Witness men and handed five women suspended sentences.
26.03.2025 – The case of “illegal missionary work” against a Polish priest was terminated in Noyabrsk
Sova – In March 2025, it became known that on February 11, the November City Court of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District stopped the case of “illegal missionary work” against a Catholic priest from Poland.
Polish citizen Marek Jasczkowski was charged under Part 5 of Art. 5.26 of the Administrative Code (implementation of missionary activity with violations of the requirements of the legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and religious associations, committed by a foreign citizen) for failure to notify the beginning of the activities of a religious group.
The priest pleaded not guilty. He explained that he is the rector of the Catholic parish of Joseph Truzhnik and comes twice a month at the invitation of his parishioners to conduct worship services. At the same time, only Catholics gather at the service, the priest does not preach among representatives of other faiths.
26.03.2025 – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom once again recognized Russia as a country of particular concern
Sova – On March 25, 2025, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published another annual report. The authors of the report considered the state of religious freedom in Russia unsatisfactory.
The report, in particular, mentions the criminal prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their long prison terms, the persecution of alleged followers of Hiz but-Tahrir in Crimea, followers of Said Nursi, Tabligha Jamaat and other believers under “extremist” articles.
25.03.2025 – Six Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested in Tomsk
Sova – A case was opened in Tomsk under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, six believers were sent to the pre-trial detention center.
On March 20, 2025, six Jehovah’s Witnesses were detained and later detained in Tomsk: Evgeny and Yana Abramov, Vladimir Pushkov, Aisula Tastaibekova, Tatiana Dodolina and Evgeny Dodolin (Leonidovich). The Kirovsky District Court of Tomsk chose a preventive measure on March 21.
It is known that Pushkov is accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code), and other believers – in participation in it (Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code).
Other details of the case have not yet been reported.
25.03.2025 – Jehovah’s Witness Saparov from Adygea was approved for a six-year term
Sova – Nikolai Saparov was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to six years in a colony. The appellate court approved the verdict.
On March 19, 2025, the Supreme Court of Adygea considered an appeal against the sentence of Jehovah’s Witness Nikolai Saparov under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization) and left it unchanged.
On January 17, 2024, the Maikop City Court sentenced Saparov to six years in a general regime colony. The court also deprived him of the right to engage in educational activities, as well as activities related to leadership and participation in religious public associations for four years. In addition, he was sentenced to additional punishment in the form of restriction of liberty for a year.
25.03.2025 – A Makhachkala man was fined for distributing a banned book
Sova – The court fined Ullubiy Hajiyev for distributing the book, which, in our opinion, is illegally banned.
On March 19, 2025, the Soviet District Court of Makhachkala fined one thousand rubles under Art. 20.29 Administrative Code (mass distribution of extremist materials) by Ulluby Hajiyev.
The court found that it “transferred for review and study” the banned book “Mukhtasar Ilmi-Khal. Introduction to Islam”. It is not clear from the resolution to whom exactly he transferred it and whether it is really about mass distribution.
24.03.2025 – A resident of Serov was found guilty of insulting the feelings of believers
Sova – On March 21, 2025, the Serovsky District Court of the Sverdlovsk Region handed down a guilty verdict in the case of Nikolai Pozharuk. He was accused of insulting the religious feelings of believers (part 1 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code) and illegal storage of explosives (Part 1 of Art. 222.1 of the Criminal Code). What punishment was imposed on him is still unknown.
According to the investigation, an elderly native of Ivano-Frankivsk under the nickname “Avgiyev Stables Cleaner” left comments in VKontakte insulting the religious feelings of Orthodox Christians. The criminal case against him became known on February 8, 2024, the investigator took Pozharuk’s obligation to come.
24.03.2025 – A Jehovah’s Witness from the village of Kholmskaya died in the pre-trial detention center of Novorossiysk
Sova – Earlier, the believer Valery Bailo from the village of Kholmskaya was sentenced to two and a half years in a colony under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 UK.
On March 22, 2025, it became known that a 67-year-old Jehovah’s Witness, a former employee of a maximum security colony, Valery Bailo, died in the Novorossiysk pre-trial detention center. According to his lawyer, Bailo has complained of health and exacerbation of chronic diseases since his detention, but he has not received medical care. The lawyer suggests that due to the lack of treatment for stomach disease, Bailo died of exhaustion and seeks to investigate the circumstances of the death of his client.
24.03.2025 – In Tuapse, a minister of the EHB church was fined for “illegal missionary work”
Sova – On March 12, 2025, the World Court of the Bryukhovetsky District of the Krasnodar Territory fined Sergei Tymoshchuk, a minister of the Church of the International Union of Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches (MSC EHB), for “illegal missionary work”.
The court found him guilty under Part 4 of Art. 5.26 of the Administrative Code (implementation of missionary activity in violation of the requirements of the legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and religious associations) and imposed a penalty in the form of a fine of five thousand rubles.
18.03.2025 – Russia bans local church publication as “extremist”
Bitter Winter – On March 7, 2025, Russian media reported that the Moscow City Court declared “extremist” the book “New Testament: The Restoration Translation,” distributed by the Local Church founded by Chinese preacher Witness Lee.
The court found that the comments by Witness Lee on what it called a “non-canonical translation of the New Testament” contain signs of “exclusivism,” a frequent Russian accusation against groups banned as “extremist.” “Exclusivism” means implying that the Biblical interpretation by Witness Lee is superior to others, including the one by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).