The trial of a Korean missionary facing 17 years in prison on immigration-related charges is set to resume this week in Khabarovsk, Russia, after the court-appointed interpreter failed to appear at a hearing on September 1. According to persecution watchdog Voice of the Martyrs Korea, two hearings are scheduled this week and two next week ...
RUSSIA: FOREIGNERS EVANGELIZING IN RUSSIA FACE MANDATORY EXPULSION UNDER NEW LAW
Russia is making expulsion of foreigners mandatory for a wider range of religious offenses. According to persecution watchdog Voice of the Martyrs Korea, the new law, signed on August 4 and due to go into effect on November 3, could lead to mandatory expulsion of foreigners for simple acts like inviting someone to a religious ...
ONLINE PETITION CALLS ON TRUMP, XI TO LET CANCER-STRICKEN PASTOR RETURN TO FAMILY IN U.S.
A humanitarian campaign is calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to raise the case of Pastor John Cao with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the scheduled September 24 meeting between the two leaders. Organizers say that the goal of the campaign is to secure permission for Pastor Cao, who has been diagnosed with stage 4 ...
RUSSIA: PASTOR FINED BECAUSE CHURCH HAD MISSION EURASIA BIBLES
Voice of the Martyrs Korea has learned that a Moscow court fined a Russian pastor in June because scripture portions published by Mission Eurasia were found at his church ten days after Mission Eurasia was declared to be an “undesirable organization”. The court ordered the scriptures—178 copies of the New Testament and 74 copies of ...
CHINA: HUNAN POLICE DECLARE “ANYONE WHO DOESN’T ENTER THREE-SELF CHURCH IS A CULT”, RAID PROMINENT HOUSE CHURCH
In what persecution watchdog organizations are calling a long-planned coordinated operation, authorities in Yueyang City, Hunan Province, China, carried out a large-scale raid on multiple meeting locations of Rock Bible Church, a prominent house church, on Saturday evening July 11. Pastor Huang Lei as he ended detention in April 2024 (file photo) Those arrested included ...
RUSSIA: CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP DESIGNATED “UNDESIRABLE ORGANIZATION”
Voice of the Martyrs Korea has learned that Child Evangelism Fellowship-USA (CEF) has been added to the Russian Federation’s list of undesirable organizations. The ruling comes as CEF Korea Missionary Park Tae Yeon faces a possible 17-year sentence in a trial set to begin July 28 in Khabarovsk, according to Voice of the Martyrs Korea. ...
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: NATIVE-BORN PASTOR TO RECEIVE DEPORTATION VERDICT THIS WEEK
Persecution watchdog Voice of the Martyrs Korea is calling for prayers this week for a 67-year-old pastor in Occupied Ukraine who is facing deportation from his native city and country because of his ministry activities. “Pastor Vladimir Pavlovich Rytikov was born in Krasnodon in 1959, in what was then the Voroshilovgrad Region of Soviet Ukraine,” says Voice ...
CHINA: MAPPING AND RECAPPING JUNES “MASSIVE UPSURGE” IN CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION CHINA: MAPPING AND RECAPPING JUNES “MASSIVE UPSURGE” IN CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
Voice of the Martyrs Korea is reporting what they call a “massive upsurge” in Christian persecution across China in June. “In recent weeks, authorities literally in the north, south, east, and west of China have detained, questioned, or investigated house church believers and ministry workers, reflecting a significant increase in pressure on unregistered Christian congregations,” says Voice ...
RUSSIA: PROSECUTOR TO CLAIM DETAINED KOREAN MISSIONARY “FORCED” CHILDREN TO PRAY
Voice of the Martyrs Korea, the persecution watchdog ministry which has been advocating for Korean missionary Park Tae Yeon since her arrest in Khabarovsk, Russia in January, has learned that the prosecutor will claim that she “forced” children who stayed with her to pray. The ministry says it believes a psychiatrist may be called to ...
RUSSIA BOMBS CHURCH BUILDING OF UKRAINIAN PASTOR IT PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED AND TORTURED
A Russian Shahed drone struck the building of The Light of the Gospel Church in Balakliia in eastern Ukraine in the early afternoon on Saturday May 23. Despite severe fire damage, none of the occupants of the building at that time, including the church’s pastor, Alexander Salfetnikov, nor the small group he was preparing for ...