Freedom of religion and belief, with interlinked freedoms of expression, association, assembly, and other fundamental freedoms remain seriously restricted in Russia. Forum 18's survey analysis ahead of the forthcoming presidential election documents freedom of religion or belief violations including: "extremism"-related criminal prosecutions and jailings of Jehovah's Witnesses and of Muslims who meet to study the works of Said Nursi; torture, and impunity for torture; prisoners of conscience ...| www.forum18.org
Forum 18 News Service documents here the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) most important and relevant human dimension commitments on freedom of religion and belief up to the end of December 2015. Human dimension commitments are agreed unanimously among all 57 participating States. All participating States have formally and publicly promised to implement these politically-binding commitments, and have also agreed that the implementation of commitments is a legitima...| www.forum18.org
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian forces committed a litany of violations, including those which should be investigated as war crimes or crimes against humanity. The invasion also marked the start of a new, all-out drive to eradicate public dissent in Russia. Through new laws and other measures, Russian authorities doubled down in their relentless attack against free speech, civic activism, independent journalism, and political dissent, in an apparent attempt to...| www.hrw.org