Additional Name(s): Andrey Andreyevich Kapatsyna, Андрея Капацыну
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Russia
Religion or Belief: Christian – Protestant
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Appeal: Rejected
Sentence: 2 Years, 10 Months' Imprisonment
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Reason for Persecution: Conscientious Objection
Nature of Charges: Refusing & Absconding Military Service
Andrey Kapatsyna is imprisoned for conscientious objection.
On September 23, 2022, Kapatsyna was sent to a military unit in Vladivostok after he received a military summons to support Russia's war effort in Ukraine.
On October 20, 2022, Kapatsyna refused to fulfill his superior's orders to deploy to Ukraine citing his religious beliefs.
On June 29, 2023, the Vladivostok Garrison Military Court sentenced Kapatsyna to two years and 10 months in prison for "failure by a subordinate to comply with an order from a superior...during a period of martial law, in wartime, or in conditions of an armed conflict or hostilities, as well as refusal to participate in military or hostilities" (Art. 332-2.1 RCC).
On August 17, 2023, the Pacific Fleet Military Court upheld Kapatsyna's sentence.
Kapatsyna was transferred to the Magadan region to serve his sentence.
"RUSSIA: Four now jailed for refusing to fight in Ukraine on religious grounds" Forum 18
"RUSSIA: Jailed for refusing mobilisation on grounds of conscience" Forum 18
"Магаданского авиадиспетчера отправили в колонию за отказ воевать" Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
"Верующий осужден за отказ участвовать в боевых действиях" SOVA Center
Additional Name(s): Костянтин Максимов
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Russia
Religion or Belief: Christian – Orthodox
Date of Detainment: May/16/2023
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: Yes
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Disappeared
Reason for Persecution: Religious Activity Religious Belief Religious Expression Religious Figure & Religious Leadership Role
Nature of Charges: Espionage
Kostiantyn Maksimov is detained for his religious belief.
On May 16, 2023, Russian forces in Russian-occupied Chongar, Ukraine, detained Maksimov, a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as he was trying to cross into Russian-occupied Crimea. The head of the Russian Religious Organizations Department at the Zaporizhzhia Regional Administration's Social and Political Communications and Information Policy Department told Forum 18 that Maksimov had not supported the integration of the Berdyansk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church into the Russian Orthodox Church, which had occurred days before his detainment.
In April 2024, the Russian-installed Prosecutor's Office of the Zaporizhzhia Region announced that Maksimov had been indicted for espionage (Art. 276 RCC) after it accused him of providing the location of Russian air defense systems to Ukrainian Security Services.
"OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Espionage trial for "disappeared" Ukrainian Orthodox priest" Forum 18
"OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Russian occupation forces continue to disappear religious leaders" Forum 18
Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine: 1 February - 31 July 2023 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Additional Name(s): 热依拉·达吾提, راھىلە داۋۇت
Gender: Female
Perpetrator: China
Ethnic Group: Uyghur
Religion or Belief: Unspecified
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Sentence: Life Imprisonment
Date of Detainment: December//2017
Current Status: Not Released
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Reason for Persecution: Ethnoreligious Identity Religious Scholarship
Nature of Charges: Separatism
Rahile Dawut is detained for her ethnoreligious identity and scholarship.
In December 2017, authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) detained Dawut, Uyghur ethnographer and professor, and sent her to a detention facility. Dawut's detention came amid mass detentions of largely Muslim ethnic minorities in XUAR in 2017 and 2018.
In 2020, a court reportedly sentenced Dawut to life in prison for "splitting the state" in relation to her efforts to preserve Uyghur culture.