Ryazan court fines Baptist pastor for criticizing Islam in sermon

Festive Eid al-Fitr prayer at the Cathedral Mosque in Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

On May 20, 2026, the Soviet District Court of Ryazan imposed a fine of 10,000 rubles on the head of the local community of Evangelical Christian Baptists Mikhail Dobrov, reports the SOVA research center.

The authorities found signs of inciting religious hatred in a video recording of his speech titled "Sunday Service 18.01.2026". The preacher published this video on the official channel of the organization "ECB Church 'Grace' Ryazan".

In his speech, Mikhail Dobrov addressed the topic of Christians being displaced from European countries and cited stories from relatives in Germany as an example. "There, churches were first closed, then they were turned into clubs and hotels, and then Muslims simply began gathering there and turning them into mosques," the community leader stated during the broadcast.

He proclaimed Islam to be the opposite of Christianity and emphasized that this religion came into the world with evil. Experts from the Ryazan Region Forensic Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs concluded that Dobrov’s remarks contained a negative assessment of a group of people based on their religious affiliation.

The experts concluded that the preacher attributed to Muslims a desire to destroy Christianity and violence toward believers.

The court found the Baptist liable under Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Experts noted that Dobrov's remarks were directed at the religion itself rather than at its individual adherents. However, law enforcement authorities concluded that such public statements create a negative image of Islam adherents.

As the UOJ reported, in Chechnya, a teacher at a private Islamic school beat children with sticks.

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