Activities

By Alessandro Amicarelli — The Rudnev case continues to evolve in ways that would be difficult to believe were they not so thoroughly documented. What has now emerged is not an isolated irregularity, nor a momentary lapse in prosecutorial diligence, but one more instance in a long‑established pattern: the construction of allegations based on assumptions that are not only unverified, but demonstrably false. This latest episode—concerning supposed failures by several defendants to comply with routine registration obligations—fits seamlessly into that troubling continuum.

By Alessandro Amicarelli — Konstantin Rudnev has spent more than a decade behind bars. Eleven of those years were served in Russia after a trial that international observers regarded as deeply compromised. He is now detained in Argentina under accusations that mirror those used against him in Russia, a continuity that raises serious concerns about the transnational circulation of unverified allegations. His long experience of incarceration has led him to develop a reflection on the nature of prisons and the future of criminal justice. He recently published a short video that deserves attention, both for its tone and for the ideas it advances.

By Alessandro Amicarelli — On June 3, Argentina’s Court of Cassation will consider a request by the prosecutors to send again Konstantin Rudnev, who is currently under house arrest, to jail. This request arrives after a year marked by procedural irregularities, medical emergencies, and investigative choices that have placed the heaviest burden on the person least connected to the events that triggered the case. Having followed this matter closely, I believe the Court now has the opportunity to correct a trajectory that has caused profound harm and has produced no corresponding benefit for justice.

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 — For years, I have defended individuals and communities targeted by states that see danger where none exists. Still, the case of Konstantin Rudnev in Argentina stands out—even after all I have seen—as an extraordinary instance of prosecutorial imagination. Rudnev remains in jail today despite three separate judicial orders, each converting his detention into house arrest. Three times judges have ruled he shouldn’t be in prison; three times the orders were ignored.

by Alessandro Amicarelli — The April 29 operation in Crewe, where some 500 British police officers—reportedly joined by Irish and Swedish personnel—stormed the headquarters of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL), has generated serious questions about proportionality and the use of force. AROPL has filed a complaint with the United Nations for the mistreatments its members received in Sweden, and some see this action as the result of inputs to the UK from the Swedish police.

By Alessandro Amicarelli — If we want to understand the Tai Ji Men case, we inevitably return to one day: December 19, 1996. You will not find it in schoolbooks, and it has not (yet) become a national holiday, but for those who monitor freedom of religion or belief in Taiwan, it marks a clear turning point. On that day, prosecutors and police raided Tai Ji Men. Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, his wife, and several dizi (disciples) were detained. Their detention was not a quiet procedural act: that evening, images of Dr. Hong, his wife, and the disciples were broadcast across national TV, framed and commented on as if they were criminals.

by Alessandro Amicarelli — CESNUR 2025 took place in Cape Town last November 2025. Now several months later, we can see its importance more clearly. FOB – Freedom of Belief played a full part. President Alessandro Amicarelli attended with Rosita Šorytė from Lithuania and Susan Palmer from Canada, both members of the Scientific Committee of FOB. Their voices stood out in human rights discussions. They cited actual cases and field accounts. Discrimination hits religious minorities every day. Press attacks, "anti-cult" language, blurry laws still strike at groups others dislike.

The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Church of Unification, was founded in Korea in 1954 by the religious leader Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, but has experienced substantial growth, especially in 1958 after its founding in Japan. Although on November 27, 2020, the Hiroshima High Court convicted five people for kidnapping and imprisoning a married couple with the purpose of de-converting them so as to force them to leave the Unification Church, by implicitly recognizing their inalienable right to their religious faith ...

VOV, is a nonprofit/non-governmental organization based in TRENTO ITALY and plays an essential role in guaranteeing a strong persecuted Christian community by providing accessibility, mobility, choice and freedom.

Its key aims are to bring the scattered persecuted Christian communities under the guardianship of VOV and build their capacity for raising collective voice to fully end discrimination and untouchability and to influence the state in formulating laws and policies to benefit the Christian persecuted communities in the world.

by Bitter Winter — Information laboriously obtained and verified by the specialized daily magazine “Bitter Winter” confirmed that in October 2024, 648 members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) were arrested in the Jilin province, in China. Most of those arrested were women, and there are credible reports that several of them were tortured and sexually molested by police officers. Two female devotees, Wang Yuxia, 61, and Wang Fuhua, 49, died because of the torture.

A TV show offers a perfect example of how “not” to deal with the issue of religious minorities.

In this month of February, the Italian TV show “Zona Bianca” (“White Zone”) aired episodes devoted to Jehovah’s Witnesses that represent, in our opinion, a textbook example of how TV journalism should “not” deal with the very sensitive topic of religious minorities.

by Bitter Winter — Note: In publishing this appeal, “Bitter Winter” notes the historic importance of Moorish Science to African-American culture. It is one of the religions established by people of color during the Great Migration, and stands as a historic emblem of one stage in the long march to empowerment of Black people. Because it is a Black religion, Moorish Science has always provoked hostilities in the white-majority American population, but we all have a collective social duty to see that religious freedom is not circumscribed by racism.

We are international scholars of religion and human rights activists concerned with the increasing number of violations of freedom of religion or belief throughout the world. We admire South Korea’s rich and vibrant religious heritage and pluralism, and are grateful to the South Korean government for its participation in international efforts denouncing the violations of religious liberty in totalitarian countries.

How to prevent such an outcome? Human rights NGOs are calling on the Turkish authorities to follow their recommendations

In May 2023, the story of the 104 refugees of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL) who presented themselves at the Turkish side of the Kapikule border seeking access to asylum in Bulgaria, but were blocked and beaten by the Turkish police, became international news.

Dear French citizens, Commission and Senate,

Only today (04.02.2024) I was able to read the bill being tabled, supposedly aimed to strengthen the fight against "sectarian drifts", and as a European citizen I feel to be in a position of remarking the following.

Passing that law would be a mistake for France.

In the 17^th century Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico illustrated how we have witnessed a turn over of moments of civilisation and moments of barbarism. France, evidently in the grip of a moment of barbarism, is once again proposing a law to strike down the so-called "sectarian drifts", to stifle any thought not aligned with the single thought so much in vogue today.

Alessandro Amicarelli, chairman of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief (FOB) and trustee of All Faiths Network UK, together with Massimo Introvigne, director in charge of Bitter Winter (online paper on Human Rights in China and the world), Rosita Soryte, director of the Observatory on the Religious Freedom of Refugees (ORLIR) and a member of the Scientific Committee of FOB, Eric Roux, president of the Union of the Churches of Scientology in France and Peter Zoherer, executive director of the Forum for Religious Freedom, Europe (FOREF Europe) ...

by Bitter Winter — The proposed law immediately targets the Unification Church, based on controversial data about “victims” and “damages,” but establishes an unfair general principle with ominous implications for the future.

by Bitter Winter — Twelve NGOs, representing a who’s who of religious liberty advocacy throughout the world, protest the Japanese government’s actions.