Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Kazakhstan
Religion or Belief: Unknown
Date of Detainment: November//2025
Current Status: Not Released
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Bekzat Maksutkhan
Extra Bio Info:
Bekzat Maksutkhan is imprisoned for his religious freedom advocacy.
In November 2025, Kazakh officials arrested Maksutkhan and 18 other human rights activists for protesting China's arrest of a Kazakh truck driver and its broader abuse of Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims in Xinjiang Province, China. Chinese authorities have perpetrated genocide and crimes against humanity against Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang on the basis of religion since 2017.
In April 2026, District Court Judge Yerzhan Baibolov sentenced Maksutkhan to 5 years' imprisonment for "inciting ethnic hatred."
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Russia
Religion or Belief: Christian – Jehovah's Witness
Date of Detainment: March//2025
Current Status: Not Released
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Gonkhi Venans Dzhakhi
Extra Bio Info:
Gonkhi Venans Dzhakhi is detained for his religious activity. In March 2025, authorities detained Dzhakhi, along with 3 other Jehovah's Witnesses, and charged him with "extremism" (Art. 282 RCC) due to his Jehovah's Witness activities. Authorities confined him at Detention Center No. 1 in Tomsk Region.
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Russia
Religion or Belief: Christian – Jehovah's Witness
Date of Detainment: March//2025
Current Status: Not Released
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Andrey Plekhanov
Extra Bio Info:
Andrey Plekhanov is detained for his religious activity.
In March 2025, authorities detained Plekhanov, along with 3 other Jehovah's Witnesses, and charged him with "extremism" (Art. 282 RCC) due to his Jehovah's Witness activities. Authorities confined him at Detention Center No. 1 in Tomsk Region.