Overview of the situation in the isolated territory in the Donetsk region of Ukraine

During 2018, the situation with freedom of religion in the territory of the Donetsk region, which left the jurisdiction of Ukraine, worsened. Local authorities banned the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, equating a peaceful denomination with extremists. The believers were under surveillance, and in different cities law enforcers summoned them for interrogations and threatened them with arrests. According to a similar scenario, the situation developed in Russia, where the ban on the organization turned into total oppression of hundreds of thousands of people.

From January to June 2018, representatives of the DPR law enforcement agencies showed increased attention to the worship buildings of Jehovah's Witnesses - Kingdom Halls. In such cities as Donetsk, Yasinovataya, Snezhnoye, Zugres, Yenakievo, and Dokuchaevsk, prosecutorial checks, conversations with believers, and inspections of Kingdom Halls were conducted. Later, this resulted in the confiscation of buildings. By August 29, 2018, a total of 16 Kingdom Halls had been taken from local Jehovah's Witnesses.

Since June 2018 , security forces in Donetsk, Torez, Snizhne, Shakhtersk, Yenakiyevo, Makiivka, and Yunokommunarovsk have begun collecting data on Jehovah's Witnesses. Some men and women were summoned for interrogation on summonses, others were taken to police stations right on the street and from home.

In July and August 2018, the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses were searched. One in Yenakiyevo, another in the village of Krasnoarmeyskoye (Novoazovsky district).

On August 22, 2018 , the local Supreme Court, at the request of the DPR prosecutor's office, recognized a number of information materials of Jehovah's Witnesses, including the official website, as extremist. On September 5, 2018, the local Ministry of Communications ordered telecom operators to block the site.

On September 26, 2018, the Supreme Court of the DPR banned the activities of the religious association of Jehovah's Witnesses in the controlled territory, accusing the organization of extremist activities. At the same time, neither the prosecutor nor the court considered it necessary to hear the arguments of Jehovah's Witnesses in their defense.

In October-November 2018, the security forces made additional efforts to identify Jehovah's Witnesses. Some believers reported being under surveillance. In the village of Talmanovo, the security forces made rounds of the residents, notifying them against receipt that the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses were banned.

In Yenakiieve, there were reports that law enforcement agencies had been ordered to "find, arrest, and neutralize Jehovah's Witnesses engaged in the preaching work."

Serious concerns are caused by reports from various sources about the preparation of mass detentions. The situation threatens to turn into massive violations of the rights of thousands of civilians, as is happening in the Russian Federation. (Although the Russian authorities claim that the country's Supreme Court decision to ban a religious organization applies only to legal entities, dozens of innocent people have become prisoners of conscience. The decision of the Russian Supreme Court has been appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which intends to consider the complaint of Jehovah's Witnesses as a matter of priority.)