Kyrgyzstan Pastor Suffers Traumatic Brain Injury After Prison Torture

Michael Ringer

22 Oct 2025 — 4 min read

Pastor Pavel Shreider

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan — A pastor tortured in a Kyrgyzstan prison has suffered traumatic brain injuries resulting in cognitive impairment, according to United Nations special rapporteurs and human rights group Forum 18.

Prison Chief Major Azat Kudaybergenov informed relatives of Reverend Pavel Shreider, a 65-year-old True and Free Reform Adventist pastor, in a September 22 letter that doctors had examined him multiple times and diagnosed traumatic brain injury resulting in cognitive impairment. Pastor Shreider has been transferred to Prison No. 31, a medical unit in the capital city of Bishkek.

Bishkek's Birinchi May District Court on July 10 convicted Pastor Shreider on charges of incitement of racial, ethnic, national, religious, or regional enmity. Judge Ubaydulla Satimkulov sentenced him to three years in a general regime labor camp and ordered his deportation to Russia at his own expense upon the end of the prison term.

National Security Committee secret police launched a raid on the pastor's home in Bishkek and the homes of 10 church members in November 2024 before the arrests. NSC secret police officers tortured both Pastor Shreider and three other church members during their post-arrest interrogations.

Five officers gave Pastor Shreider blows on his head and chest and kicked him in his spine from behind, he wrote in a November 2024 complaint to the then National Center for the Prevention of Torture. Officers hit him with an iron pipe to force him to confess that he committed crimes.

Pastor Shreider's family pointed to several factors that caused his poor health, telling Forum 18 that the beating during his arrest was the most critical, noting he is of an older age, the prison regime is not conducive to body movement or exercise, his blood circulation is bad, and he probably has stress every day because of his arrest.

The True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kyrgyzstan chooses not to seek state registration. Exercising freedom of religion or belief without state registration is illegal and punishable in the country. Alamudin District Court in Chuy Region banned the True and Free Reform Adventist Church on March 19, labeling it an extremist religious organization.

Kyrgyzstan officially adheres to the UN Convention against Torture, which requires signatory countries to arrest anyone suspected of committing or instigating torture and try them under criminal law. The Zhogorku Kenesh Parliament voted in June to abolish the free-standing National Center for the Prevention of Torture, handing its role to the Office of the regime-appointed Human Rights Ombudsperson.

THE CRUSADER'S OPINION

Five secret police officers beat a 65-year-old pastor with an iron pipe, kicked his spine, and struck his head and chest to force a false confession. They failed. Pastor Pavel Shreider refused to lie. Now he has traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairment from torture Kyrgyzstan's government inflicted and denies.

The charges are fabricated. Incitement of racial, ethnic, national, religious, or regional enmity. No specific names of alleged co-conspirators. No concrete evidence. Just a pastor whose church refused state registration and whose faith made him a target. Three years in a labor camp, then deportation to Russia at his own expense. This is Soviet-style persecution under a different flag.

Secret police also used a stun gun on church member Igor Tsoy, trying to force him to falsely implicate Pastor Shreider. Tsoy refused despite multiple injuries. He was released. Pastor Shreider was convicted anyway.

Kyrgyzstan signed the UN Convention against Torture, then beat a pastor with an iron pipe and disbanded the National Center for the Prevention of Torture. The regime eliminated the agency designed to investigate torture allegations, then tortured a Christian pastor with impunity. No one has been prosecuted. No one will be.

The True and Free Reform Adventist Church emerged during Soviet persecution. Former leader Vladimir Shelkov died in a Soviet labor camp in 1980. Now in 2025, history repeats. The church is banned as extremist for refusing state registration. Exercising religious freedom without government permission is illegal. Totalitarianism never died in Central Asia; it just changed uniforms.

United Nations special rapporteurs asked Kyrgyzstan about arrests, detentions, alleged torture, and banning the church as extremist. The regime sent a brief reply in Russian and ignored the substance. International condemnation means nothing when torture victims suffer brain damage while the world watches and does nothing.

Pastor Shreider's family believes the beating during arrest was the most critical factor causing his brain injury. Prison doctors diagnosed traumatic brain injury with cognitive impairment. He cannot participate in court hearings. His appeal keeps getting rescheduled because authorities claim they cannot establish internet connections or transfer him properly. Bureaucratic torture after physical torture.

Western nations give Kyrgyzstan aid while Kyrgyzstan tortures pastors. The international community issues statements while Christians suffer permanent brain damage in prisons. This is the cost of our silence.