Source: www.forum18.org
Date: November 30, 2022
Russia's National Guard seized two priests in Russian-occupied Berdyansk on
16 November. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Donetsk Exarchate denies Russian
claims that Fr Ivan Levytskyi and Fr Bohdan Heleta stored explosives in the
church and had "extremist" literature. Fr Bohdan needs regular medicine.
"Being under arrest and being tortured pose a very serious threat to his
life." On 26 November, the tortured and shot bodies of Pentecostal deacon
Anatoly Prokopchuk and his son were found, four days after the Russian
military seized them.
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: "There is no one to replace the arrested priests"
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
On 16 November, Russia's National Guard (Rosgvardiya) arrested the two
Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish priests in the Black Sea coastal town of
Berdyansk (Zaporizhzhia Region), Fr Ivan Levytskyi and Fr Bohdan Heleta.
The following day, Russian forces searched the Church of the Nativity of
the Blessed Virgin and claim to have found explosives and "extremist"
literature. It appears that the Russian occupation forces are considering
bringing one or both priests to trial on terrorism charges.
Fr Ivan had taken part in pro-Ukrainian demonstrations until the invaders
banned such peaceful protest. Following the ban, he had continued to pray
each day at 12 noon at the 'I love Berdyansk' installation in the town
centre (see below).
"Although the 'administration' installed in the territories captured by
Russian troops accuses our priests - Fr Ivan Levitskyi and Fr Bohdan Heleta
- of storing explosives and weapons, as well as supporting 'partisan'
activities, we emphasise that the only reason the priests were detained and
illegally held is their loyalty to their people and their Church," the
Donetsk Exarchate told Forum 18 from Zaporizhzhia (see below).
The Donetsk Exarchate called for the two priests to be freed immediately
and noted that Fr Bohdan needs regular medication for a health condition.
"Being under arrest and being tortured pose a very serious threat to his
life," it warned (see below).
"At the moment, the church is not operational, as there is no one to
replace the arrested priests," the Donetsk Exarchate added. "All parish
activities have stopped" (see below).
Officers of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya)'s Southern Region in
the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on 30 November refused to give Forum 18
contacts for Rosgvardiya in Berdyansk or Zaporizhzhia Region of Ukraine
(see below).
The telephone at the (Russian) Berdyansk District Police was not answered
or was busy each time Forum 18 called (see below).
Russia's military began its renewed invasion of Ukraine on 24 February and
captured Berdyansk three days later. It has remained under Russian
occupation since then.
Earlier in the year, Russian forces in Berdyansk had seized a Ukrainian
Orthodox priest and a Lutheran leader. Both were soon freed (see below).
On 25 November, Russian forces detained Fr Petro Krenitskyi, parish priest
of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Region.
They released him the same day, but forced him to leave for Ukrainian
government-held territory. "Fortunately, Fr Petro is now safe - he was
'deported' to Zaporizhzhia," the Donetsk Exarchate told Forum 18 (see
below).
Elsewhere in parts of Ukraine under Russian occupation, "a small number of
our parishes continue their activities", the Donetsk Exarchate noted.
On 22 November, the Russian military seized a businessman and Pentecostal
deacon 52-year-old Anatoly Prokopchuk and his 19-year-old son Aleksandr
Prokopchuk, who lived in Nova Kakhovka in Kherson Region. On 26 November,
their shot and mutilated bodies were found in a nearby wood (see below).
Forum 18 was unable to find out if Anatoly and Aleksandr Prokopchuk were
seized, tortured and killed to punish their exercise of freedom of religion
or belief. Forum 18 was unable to reach the Russian military in Nova
Kakhovka or the town's Russian-controlled police (see below).
The man who answered the phone at the (Russian) Kherson Region
Anti-Terrorism Centre put the phone down as soon as Forum 18 began asking
about the kidnapping and murder of Anatoly and Aleksandr Prokopchuk (see
below).
Illegal occupation and annexation
Following Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian
and Russian-backed officials and soldiers have in newly-occupied areas
seized and tortured religious leaders
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
places of worship to prevent their use for worship, confiscated equipment,
demanded documents, and in at least one case forcibly expelled church
members from their building.
Russia illegally annexed Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions, as well as the
Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), on
5 October, following referenda that were widely denounced by the
international community.
"The so-called 'referenda' in Ukraine were conducted in areas under Russian
occupation," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on
Twitter on 29 September. "They can't be called a genuine expression of the
popular will."
Russia illegally annexed the DPR and LPR as Russian federal subjects on 5
October, retaining the DPR and LPR names.
As of late November, Russia occupies about 70 percent of Ukraine's Kherson
Region and about 70 percent of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Region. (The city of
Zaporizhzhia remains under Ukrainian government control.) The DPR occupies
about 60 percent of Ukraine's Donetsk Region, while the LPR occupies about
95 percent of Ukraine's Luhansk Region.
On 19 October Russia imposed martial law on the parts of the Ukrainian
regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia which it has
illegally occupied and annexed. Russia's 2002 Law on Martial Law grants the
Russian president the power in areas under martial law
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
of political parties, public organisations and religious associations
conducting propaganda and/or agitation as well as other subversive
activity".
Russians seize religious leaders
Russian forces have seized many religious leaders of a variety of religious
communities (https://www.forum18.org/archi
of these cases, however, it remains unclear if places of worship or
religious leaders were targeted to specifically punish the exercise of the
freedom of religion or belief.
Russian or Russian-backed forces have questioned individuals they have
detained about their religious communities
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
they are active members of such a community. It remains unclear whether
this is because they are targeting such communities, or whether they are
seeking general information about the population.
On 21 September, masked Russian soldiers came to the home of Pastor Leonid
Ponomaryov, Pastor of a Baptist Council of Churches congregation in the
city of Mariupol in Donetsk Region, and his wife Tatyana. Leonid and
Tatyana Ponomaryov's neighbours "distinctly heard groans and cries" as the
masked men took Leonid and Tatyana away
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
direction". The Ponomaryovs were initially taken to a police station, and
despite Baptists' attempts to find out where they were the occupation
authorities gave no information.
On 21 October, Tatyana and Leonid Ponomaryov were freed and reunited with
relatives and church members
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Berdyansk: Earlier kidnappings
In March, Russian police in Berdyansk searched the home of Oleh Nikolayev,
a priest from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (a Church recognised as
autocephalous by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 2019), and took him away, the
diocese noted on 14 March. Russian police freed him soon afterwards.
Russian forces detained the Head of Berdyansk's German Lutheran Church,
Artur Kozhevnikov, while he was walking in the town centre on 9 April. They
took him to the police station, where the Russian military had established
their headquarters.
"There has been no contact with him since the day of his detention,"
Ukraine's German Lutheran Church noted on its website on 16 April. "The
military commandant does not receive visitors about this case, and no
information about the fate of the detainee has been received from the
commandant's office." The Russians freed Kozhevnikov in early May, church
members told Forum 18.
Kozhevnikov had been involved in the restoration of the community in 1997
and has served as the chair of the Church Council for more than 20 years.
He is also engaged in social and musical service.
Berdyansk's German Lutheran congregation continues to meet for worship in
its 120-year-old building.
Berdyansk: Russia's National Guard seizes two Greek Catholic priests
On 16 November, Russia's National Guard (Rosgvardiya) arrested two parish
priests in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the Black Sea coastal
town of Berdyansk (Zaporizhzhia Region), Hieromonk Ivan Levytskyi and Fr
Bohdan Heleta. Russia's National Guard reports directly to the Russian
President.
The following day, Russian forces searched Berdyansky's Church of the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin - where Fr Ivan and Fr Bohdan serve - and
claim to have found explosives and "extremist" literature. It appears that
the Russian occupation forces are considering bringing the two priests to
trial on terrorism charges.
The Russian occupation authorities appear to have made no public statement
about the arrests of Fr Ivan and Fr Bohdan, nor about the accusations
against them, nor which agency is carrying out the investigation.
On 24 November, the Russian media broadcast reports about the arrest of the
priests, including on Zvezda TV (a channel linked to the Russian military)
and on the Izvestiya website. Both claimed that investigators had found
explosives, detonators and pistols. Zvezda TV showed Fr Ivan talking, where
he points out that he had not been present during the search of the church
premises.
"In addition," Zvezda TV declared, "in the monastery library were many
books connected with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, as well as literature by
priests who served the Hitlerite regime in the second world war. In Russia
these authors are banned, but in Ukraine they are considered practically as
saints."
Zvezda TV and Izvestiya's video reports showed a masked man in uniform
holding up books to the camera, including a collection of sermons by
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, who headed the Church until his death in
1944.
A Moscow court ruled in March 2013 that a small book with a sermon by
Metropolitan Sheptytskyi – republished in Ukrainian in Poland in 1990 –
was "extremist". Russia's Justice Ministry then added the book to its
Federal List of Extremist Materials
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
from being distributed in Russia and meant that anyone possessing it could
face administrative charges. No other book by or about Metropolitan
Sheptytskyi appears to be on the Russian Federal List.
In 2014, soon after the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, the
Russian FSB several times summoned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest Fr
Bogdan Kostetsky, who served in the Holy Virgin parish in Yevpatoriya.
Among other questions, Russian FSB officers asked him about his attitude to
Metropolitan Sheptytskyi
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
In May, the Russian-controlled Culture Ministry in Donetsk began a
programme of removing from public libraries literature that it regards as
"extremist" (https://www.forum18.org/archi
removed included not only books on Ukrainian culture and history and books
about Adolf Hitler, but books on "political and religious figures".
Zvezda TV also claimed that Fr Ivan had called on people "to sabotage the
activities of the administration and to resist the Russian military. He
also held prayers in support of the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian
regime." It said that a court would determine Fr Ivan's fate, but without
giving details of who might be investigating him, on what charges and which
court might eventually hear any case.
Officers of Rosgvardiya's Southern Region in the Russian city of
Rostov-on-Don on 30 November refused to give Forum 18 contacts for
Rosgvardiya in Berdyansk or Zaporizhzhia Region of Ukraine.
The telephone at the (Russian) Berdyansk District Police was not answered
or was busy each time Forum 18 called on 29 and 30 November.
Donetsk Exarchate rejects Russian accusations
On 25 November, the Donetsk Exarchate posted a statement on its website
refuting the accusations against Fr Ivan and Fr Bohdan and calling for
their release.
Fr Ivan had taken part in pro-Ukrainian demonstrations until the invaders
banned such peaceful protest. Following the ban, he had continued to pray
each day at 12 noon at the 'I love Berdyansk' installation in the town
centre.
"Although the 'administration' installed in the territories captured by
Russian troops accuses our priests - Fr Ivan Levitskyi and Fr Bohdan Heleta
- of storing explosives and weapons, as well as supporting 'partisan'
activities, we emphasise that the only reason the priests were detained and
illegally held is their loyalty to their people and their Church," the
Donetsk Exarchate told Forum 18 from Zaporizhzhia on 29 November.
The Donetsk Exarchate rejects Russian accusations that explosive materials
had been stored in the church. "Such information is now widely disseminated
by the Russian propaganda media, but we strongly reject such accusations,"
it told Forum 18. "All the so-called 'evidence' shown by the
representatives of the occupation administration was discovered during the
search, when both priests had already been arrested and were not on the
territory of the parish. These accusations are obvious defamation and
provocation."
The Donetsk Exarchate similarly rejects Russian accusations that the Church
had "extremist" literature. It noted that Russian media showed books by
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, who headed the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church in the first half of the 20th century.
"It is interesting that Metropolitan Andrey is a figure revered not only in
Ukraine and even not only by Christians. The metropolitan, whom the
Russians accuse of Nazism, is known in particular for saving a large number
of Jews from death in concentration camps during the Second World War. And
those who came, as they themselves claim, 'to fight Nazism', find extremism
in his works.."
The Donetsk Exarchate issued a further "urgent statement" on 30 November,
saying that it had had no contact with Fr Ivan or Fr Bohdan. It fears that
Russian forces may use torture against the priests to try to secure a
"confession" that they had stored weapons. "A 'confession' may be necessary
for a so-called 'court' to pass sentence and punish our clergy illegally,"
the Exarchate warned.
The Exarchate renewed its call for its two priests to be freed and stressed
that Fr Bohdan needs regular medication for a health condition. "Being
under arrest and being tortured pose a very serious threat to his life."
Melitopol: Priest detained then "deported"
On 25 November, Russian forces detained Fr Petro Krenitskyi, the parish
priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Assumption of Saint Anna Church in
Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Region. They released him the same day, but
forced him to leave for Ukrainian government-held territory.
"Fortunately, Fr Petro is now safe - he was 'deported' to Zaporizhzhia,"
the Donetsk Exarchate told Forum 18 from Zaporizhzhia on 29 November.
Services continue at Melitopol's Assumption of Saint Anna Church.
Nova Kakhovka: Pentecostal father and son seized, tortured, executed
On the evening of 22 November, the Russian military seized a businessman
and Pentecostal deacon 52-year-old Anatoly Prokopchuk and his 19-year-old
son Aleksandr Prokopchuk, who lived in Nova Kakhovka in Kherson Region on
the eastern side of the Dnipro River. Relatives and friends said Russian
forces seized the father and son as they were working in their garage.
On 26 November, their shot and mutilated bodies were found in a nearby
wood, the Centre of Journalistic Investigations noted on 28 November,
citing their friends. They were buried on 29 November.
"Even during the war and the Russian occupation, they continued to serve
God and people, in the church and in society," Anatoly Prokopchuk's
brother-in-law Ivan Leshchuk wrote on Facebook from California on 28
November. "They preached, organised, sang, played, distributed food, prayed
and comforted those in need."
Forum 18 was unable to find out if Anatoly and Aleksandr Prokopchuk were
seized, tortured and killed to punish their exercise of freedom of religion
or belief. Forum 18 was unable to reach the Russian military in Nova
Kakhovka.
The man who answered the phone at the (Russian) Kherson Region
Anti-Terrorism Centre put the phone down on 29 November as soon as Forum 18
began asking about the kidnapping and murder of Anatoly and Aleksandr
Prokopchuk.
The telephone at the (Russian) Nova Kakhovka Police was not answered or was
busy each time Forum 18 called on 29 and 30 November. (END)
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Occupied
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