The 124 known prosecutions under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") and Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity") between January 2024 and April 2025 are listed. First-instance courts (in one case police) convicted 107 defendants and acquitted three. They closed or returned a further 12 cases to police or prosecutors. Two cases which reached court after the permitted three-month period were dismissed. All but six of those convicted ...| www.forum18.org
On 5 February, amendments to the Administrative Code entered force allowing police - without having to go to court - to fine and expel from Russia foreign citizens who conduct "illegal missionary activity". Forum 18 has so far found one such case. Among earlier cases, in October 2024, 85-year-old Catholic priest Władysław Kloc lost his appeal against a fine and expulsion for leading worship in his parish. Most known prosecutions of foreign citizens involve Muslims who appear to be Central A...| www.forum18.org
At least 90 people in 2024 and 34 in January-April 2025 were prosecuted for unlawful "missionary activity". Fines are typically several weeks' average wages, but foreigners can be deported. A Kurganinsk Magistrate's Court fined six Baptists – including Pastor Aleksandr Chmykh - for leading worship meetings. A Stavropol Muslim teacher was fined for leading prayers and Koranic studies for girls. Police and prosecutors did not respond on why they had brought charges to punish individuals who h...| www.forum18.org
Freedom of religion or belief and interlinked human rights are seriously violated in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Forum 18's survey analysis documents among other violations: serious systemic freedom of religion or belief violations starting with the initial March 2014 invasion; pressuring, kidnapping, torturing, jailing, and murdering religious leaders; stopping meetings for worship, banning and closing religious communities; jailing prisoners of conscience for exercising freedom of religion or...| www.forum18.org
A Krasnodar Region court found 87-year-old Archbishop Viktor Pivovarov guilty on 8 April of repeatedly "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces. The judge fined him 8 months' local average pension. Archbishop Viktor has repeatedly condemned Russia's war against Ukraine as "aggressive" and "Satanic". Many parishioners of Holy Intercession Tikhonite Church in Slavyansk "have been scared away by recent events", says a church member. Archbishop Viktor is the fifth person criminally convicted for c...| www.forum18.org