Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court ordered Pastor Pavel Shreider’s release from prison on March 25, changing his sentence to a fine equivalent to three months’ pay. He now has up to 30 days to pay the fine before being deported.

Shreider, 66, is the pastor of the now-banned True and Free Reform Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The church, which has no affiliation with the Seventh-Day Adventists in the United States, emerged during the Soviet regime as part of the country’s reform movement.

The church did not seek state registration. This is punishable by fine, liquidation, or imprisonment. A Forum18 report from 2024 found many small churches avoid registration because “many people will not want to identify themselves to the regime as founders of a religious community.”

In early 2024, the National Security Committee (NSC) secret police arrested Shreider and several church members for their involvement in illegal religious activities. Later that year, in September, while in custody, Shreider was moved to the prison’s medical unit to receive treatment for brain injuries.

“I was given blows on my head, chest, and given kicks in my spine from behind by five officers,” he wrote in a November complaint. “[They] hit me with an iron pipe to force me to confess that I committed crimes.”

Shreider is now awaiting deportation. The NSC revoked his Russian passport, and he faces a fine that will cover his deportation costs.

“They are keeping him under watch,” an individual close to Shreider told Forum 18. “He can’t remain here [in Kyrgyzstan].”

Meanwhile, authorities have not ordered Shreider’s wife’s deportation, but she will leave with him, his family stated.

Kyrgyzstan scores 25/100 on the Freedom House scale and is ranked 40th on Open Doors’ World Watch List of the most dangerous countries to be a Christian.

Story by Bella Agnello