Russia used religious faith as pretext for massive sentences against Remzi Bekirov and 24 other Crimean Tatar civic journalists and activists and is now weaponizing it again to make his life even more difficult in Russian prison

14 years for discussing daily prayers and other aspects of the men’s faith – and for refusing to remain silent about Russia’s lawless repression in occupied Crimea

Russia’s FSB, prosecutors and ‘judges’ were willing to sentence Sizikov to 17 years and send him to Siberia for speaking out about repression in occupied Crimea

Religious believers like Jehovah’s Witness Vitalii Kryushenko and Seventh Day Adventist Dmytro Zelinsky did not refuse to serve their country. They were denied their right to do so through alternative, non-combat, service

The FSB prefer to get their ‘statistics’ by fighting whole families. First they came for Emir Kurtnezirov’s severely ill father, then for him, less than two months after he married the daughter and niece of four other Crimean Tatar political prisoners

The law banning religious organizations that have the center of influence in the Russian Federation has already entered into force recently. What will be the consequences of increased state intervention in religious affairs? How will the European Court of Human Rights react to the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church? We spoke to an expert.

The active support shown by Kirill and his patriarchate for Russia’s war of aggression is criminal, but the ban of a Ukrainian Church which now denies affiliation may prove a Pandora’s box

Russia is not even trying to conceal the fact that it is targeting civic journalists and activists of the Crimean Tatar human rights movement - and, effectively, their children

Russia is continuing to find Ukrainian Jehovah's Witnesses, in this case Serhiy Parfenovych and Yury Herashchenko guilty of ‘organizing extremist activities’ for practising their faith

The Russians implicated in imprisoning Amet Suleimanov for reporting Russian repression in Crimea are willing to cause his death rather than ‘risk’ releasing a political prisoner

It was no accident that Russia’s violent arrests in February 2016 and terrorisation of whole families led to the emergence of the Crimean Solidarity human rights movement in occupied Crimea

Russia has been persecuting Ukrainian believers since soon after its appalling ban of a world faith, however this is the first time that any Jehovah’s Witness has faced such an escalation in sentence

World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses (20.04.2024) – April 20th marks the seventh anniversary of Russia’s nationwide ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses, which has led to hundreds of peaceful believers jailed and some brutally tortured.

The sentence was, thankfully, lower than that demanded by the ‘prosecutor’ against Maksym Zinchenko for peacefully practising his faith

In the first reading, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 8371 on the prohibition of religious organizations that have a center of influence in the Russian Federation. The essence of the draft law, whether this ban is proportional, and how it will affect the relationship between the Ukrainian state and the church are discussed in this article.

It is cheering that Taras Kuzio, Serhiy Liulin and Petro Zhiltsov have been released, however there should have been an acquittal, with any proper ‘court’ throwing out the preposterous charges

Russia has already killed one of the 25 Crimean Tatar civic activists and journalists arrested in its 2019 attack on the human rights movement, and it is now placing Tofik Abdulgaziev’s life in danger

Russia’s FSB have carried out more armed dawn raids, destroying the lives of ten Crimean Tatar families for ‘good statistics’ and bonuses

All of those implicated in this final attack on Crimean Tatar civic journalists and activists should be named and placed under international sanctions

Although Ukraine’s Constitution seems quite unequivocal, it is likely that this latest acquittal will be challenged on the spurious claim that the right to alternative service does not apply to mobilization