Russian authorities want an elderly archbishop to pay for the demolition of his own church building for “repeated crimes” after he criticized the invasion of Ukraine.
A sharp escalation in police raids, arrests and fines in the past two months have traumatized Baptists in southern Kazakhstan, raising concerns about the future of religious liberty in the country.
Three Muslims from Tunisia were detained this month in Italy for beating and robbing a Christian convert from Islam because he attended a church, according to a watchdog group.
Church leaders in Russian-occupied Ukraine continue to face crackdowns, with one arrested for “missionary activities” and two others deported to Georgia.
A Ukrainian priest abducted by Russian occupiers nearly a year ago could face 12 years in prison after a secret court trial for alleged espionage, contrary to international law.
Authorities in Belarus this month sentenced a pastor to 15 days in jail for calling for prayer to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine after arresting him on Feb. 22, sources said.
Decades of hostility by organized crime toward the Catholic Church in Italy allegedly surfaced anew when a priest who had received death threats found bleach in wine he was about to serve for Holy Communion.
The bruised body of a Ukrainian priest who was detained by Russian occupation forces turned up on a village street on Thursday (Feb. 15), with an unconfirmed report of a bullet wound to the head, according to watchdog group Forum 18.
At 6 a.m. on Oct. 3, two clergymen staying at parish premises on Russia’s western edge awoke to find military figures armed with machine guns raiding the site, seizing electronic devices, documents and computer hard drives.
Amendments to Belarus’s religion law are likely to curtail practice and expression of belief by Christians and people of other faiths, according to rights advocates.
