by Massimo Introvigne — The case of Russian spiritual teacher Konstantin Rudnev, detained in Argentina since 2025, has taken a dramatic and deeply worrying turn. CAP-LC and United for Human Rights have now submitted a new written statement to the UN Human Rights Council, warning that the situation has “significantly worsened” since their previous filing at the Council’s last session. That earlier statement, as “Bitter Winter” reported in January, already documented the role of Russian-generated disinformation in shaping the Argentinian proceedings.

by Massimo Introvigne — Germany is known for its reliability. Sometimes this is impressive—like with its precise engineering, on-time trains, and organized archives. Other times, it leads to oddities, such as the fact that for almost thirty years, the country’s domestic intelligence service monitored Scientology, long after the political fears of the 1990s had faded. The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Office for the Protection of the Constitution) has now discreetly ended this monitoring, much like someone quietly shutting a door they wish they had never opened.

Biased prosecutors who try to jail again a man under house arrest and in serious health conditions should be removed.

We, the undersigned organizations dedicated to the defense of freedom of religion or belief and the protection of fundamental human rights, express our deep concern regarding the situation of Konstantin Rudnev, a Russian spiritual teacher currently under house arrest in Argentina.

By Alessandro Amicarelli — When I first wrote about the case of Konstantin Rudnev in Argentina, I described it as an extraordinary example of prosecutorial overreach, a proceeding driven more by imagination than by evidence. At that time, I emphasized the misuse of pretrial detention, the construction of a trafficking narrative connected to a “cult” but unsupported by facts, and the institutional mistreatment inflicted on a young woman, E., whose vulnerability was transformed into the cornerstone of an accusation that collapsed the moment one examined the record.