Source: www.forum18.org
Date: February 10, 2023
Moscow Patriarchate priest Aleksandr Dombrovsky fled Russia in January,
shortly after police told him the FSB had opened a criminal case against
him. He had repeatedly preached against the war in Ukraine. "Everything
related to my anti-war position was recorded in a most thorough manner," he
told Forum 18. The criminal trial of Fr Ioann Kurmoyarov is due to resume
in St Petersburg on 13 February. Fr Gleb Krivoshein became the first known
person punished for signing an Orthodox petition against the war.
RUSSIA: Fled fearing prosecution for preaching that war is "terrible"
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18
A Russian Orthodox (Moscow Patriarchate) priest has been forced to leave
Russia for fear of criminal prosecution over his opposition to Russia's
invasion of Ukraine. Fr Aleksandr Dombrovsky, from Bryansk Region, went
abroad in January, shortly after police told him that the Federal Security
Service (FSB) had opened a case against him. He had repeatedly preached
against the war in Ukraine in his sermons. "Everything related to my
anti-war position was recorded in a most thorough manner," he told Forum
18.
Neither Bryansk Region police nor the FSB replied to Forum 18's questions
asking on what basis and under which Article a criminal case had been
initiated against Fr Aleksandr (see below).
A court in St Petersburg has extended the detention period of another
Orthodox priest who opposed the war and is on trial accused of spreading
"knowingly false information" about the Russian Armed Forces (Criminal Code
Article 207.3). Fr Ioann Kurmoyarov belongs to a branch of the Russian
Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) which did not join the Moscow
Patriarchate with other parts of ROCOR in 2007 (see below).
Neither St Petersburg Investigative Committee nor St Petersburg City
Prosecutor's Office have answered Forum 18's October 2022 questions as to
what material forms the basis for the case against Fr Ioann, why the
expression of religious views on war in general and in Ukraine is
considered "false information" about the Russian armed forces, and why it
was considered necessary to put him in detention (see below).
Despite the high likelihood of detention, administrative charges, and fines
– and the danger of criminal prosecution if found to have "discredited"
the Armed Forces more than once in a year – small numbers of Russians
continue to protest against the war
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
faith.
In September 2022, Fr Gleb Krivoshein, from the Tatarstan Republic, became
the first known person to be prosecuted under Administrative Code Article
20.3.3 ("Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces
of the Russian Federation") for signing the March 2022 petition of Russian
Orthodox clergy against the war (see below).
Neither the Tatarstan Republic Interior Ministry nor Kazan's Vakhitovsky
District Court replied to Forum 18's questions as to why a petition calling
for reconciliation and an end to the war should be considered
"discreditation" of the Russian Armed Forces, and why Fr Gleb was
prosecuted when the text of the petition was published before
Administrative Code Article 20.3.3 came into force (see below).
In February 2023, a protester in Vladivostok who quoted the Bible's Sixth
Commandment ("Thou shalt not kill") on his placard was briefly sent to a
psychiatric clinic after he refused to answer questions about his actions.
Police do not appear to have opened an administrative case against him (see
below).
In January 2023, Russian independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe was
also fined 500,000 Roubles – the maximum penalty for a legal entity under
Administrative Code Article 20.3.3 – for its interview with Fr Andrey
Kordochkin, a Madrid-based Moscow Patriarchate priest who has consistently
opposed the war and was one of the authors of the March 2022 open letter
from Orthodox clergy opposing Russia's war (see below).
Penalties for criticising Russia's actions in its war against Ukraine
New penalties for criticising Russia's actions in its war against Ukraine
entered legal force as soon as President Vladimir Putin signed them into
law on 4 March 2022. Among other changes was a new Administrative Code
Article 20.3.3 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
("Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the
Russian Federation"), which is used against apparently any form of anti-war
statement either in public spaces or online, and the new Criminal Code
Article 207.3 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
("Public dissemination, under the guise of credible statements, of
knowingly false information on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian
Federation").
If individuals commit an offence covered by Administrative Code Article
20.3.3 more than once within a year, they may be prosecuted under the new
Criminal Code Article 280.3.
As of 16 January 2023, police had brought 5,601 prosecutions under
Administrative Code Article 20.3.3, according to the OVD-Info human rights
news agency, citing a figure from Mediazona.
Protesters – including those expressing views on the war based on their
faith – may also face prosecution under various Parts of Administrative
Code Article 20.2 ("Violation of the established procedure for organising
or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, march or picket").
Police and other investigative agencies also use other Criminal Code
Articles against people protesting against the war – such as Article 213
("Hooliganism"), Article 214 ("Vandalism"), and Article 318 ("Violence
against the authorities") – but are not yet known to have done so to
punish anyone protesting from a religious perspective.
Between 24 February 2022 and 23 January 2023, OVD-Info recorded 19,535
detentions of people protesting against the invasion of Ukraine and
latterly against the "partial mobilisation" (announced on 21 September
2022).
As of 23 January, there had been 133 prosecutions under Criminal Code
Article 207.3 and 42 prosecutions under Criminal Code Article 280.3,
according to OVD-Info's figures.
ROC-MP priest forced to leave the country
Moscow Patriarchate priest Aleksandr Dombrovsky left Russia in January
(https://shaltnotkill.info/svy
believing that he would be prosecuted for preaching about "how terrible is
war and how important is peace".
Until late 2022, Fr Aleksandr was Rector of the Church of St Nicholas the
Miracle-worker in the village of Muzhinovo in Bryansk Region. In December,
the Bryansk Metropolitanate banned him from serving as a priest and made
him supernumerary [pochislit za shtat], ostensibly over "negligence" in
relation to a fire which destroyed the church building.
Fr Aleksandr explained to Forum 18, however, that the diocesan authorities
had earlier reprimanded him for his "dislike of Russia" and "threatened to
defrock" him because of his preaching against Russia's war in Ukraine. The
person whose negligence he blames for the fire later proved to be the
person who made a statement against him to the police and FSB.
Late on 9 January 2023, local police "invited" Fr Aleksandr to the police
station in nearby Kletnya, he told Forum 18 on 31 January, and informed him
that the Bryansk Region branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) had
opened a criminal case against him.
The investigation was initiated on the basis of a statement from the
churchwarden [starosta] of the Muzhinovo parish. She had apparently also
provided investigators with "all my notes, correspondence, [and] voice
messages, and even managed to record me in church on a dictaphone", Fr
Aleksandr added. "Everything related to my anti-war position was recorded
in a most thorough manner."
The police allowed him to leave after he wrote a statement. Faced with
criminal prosecution, Fr Aleksandr decided to leave the country shortly
afterwards, and is now "far from the Russian Federation", as he told Forum
18 on 9 February.
It is unknown under which article of the Criminal Code the FSB opened its
case against Fr Aleksandr, but it is likely to be Article 207.3 ("Public
dissemination, under the guise of credible statements, of knowingly false
information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in
order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens
[and] maintain international peace and security").
(Criminal Code Article 280.3 punishes repeated "discreditation" of the
Armed Forces, and Fr Aleksandr has not been prosecuted under Administrative
Code Article 20.3.3.)
Fr Aleksandr was born in the Odessa Region of Ukraine and he has immediate
family in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Mykolaiv.
"It goes without saying that I made no secret of [what was happening to
relatives in Ukraine]", Fr Aleksandr told Forum 18 on 31 January. "I
actively preached in church against the war, talked with parishioners and
others about atrocities and war crimes, [and] spoke about the need for
peace. In social networks and in private correspondence, my position was
exactly the same. I did not consider the genocide against the Ukrainian
people a 'war against NATO', and always tried to call a spade a spade."
Fr Aleksandr described how, on 28 October 2022, Bishop Vladimir (Novikov)
of Klintsy and Trubchevsk Diocese (part of the Bryansk Metropolitanate)
"reproached me for my dislike of Russia and asked me not to speak out on
political topics in the future, because: 'The church is separate from the
state'".
"However", Fr Aleksandr commented to Forum 18, "this 'separation' has not
prevented Patriarch Kirill from blessing this war, passing off outright
evil for patriotism."
The diocesan authorities asked Fr Aleksandr to write an "explanation" and
threatened to remove his rank of priest: "I really tried for a while not to
preach anti-war sermons, but it still didn't help me."
Muzhinovo's wooden church (and some other buildings in the village) burned
down on 31 October 2022 after a power surge. Accusing Fr Aleksandr of
negligence, the Diocese banned him from serving as a priest and made him
"supernumerary" in mid-December, also citing his anti-war statements and
– since there is nothing in canon law allowing the removal of priestly
rank for criticising the secular authorities – his second marriage (which
took place twenty years ago but was later annulled).
In a public post on 6 January in the VKontakte group of another parish of
which Fr Aleksandr was the rector – St Elijah in the village of Mirny -
he noted that the fire service had found that the Muzhinovo church had
caught fire because faults in its electrical wiring rendered it vulnerable
to the power surge. He stated that all electrical work on the recently
finished building had been organised by the churchwarden [starosta] –
who, as he learned on 9 January, appears to have denounced him to the
police and FSB for his anti-war sermons.
Forum 18 wrote to the Bryansk Region police and FSB before the start of the
working day of 8 February, asking on what basis and under which Article a
criminal case had been initiated against Fr Aleksandr. Forum 18 had
received no reply by the end of the working day in Bryansk of 10 February.
Kurmoyarov: Criminal trial continues in St Petersburg
The only ongoing criminal trial for religious opposition to the war is that
of Fr Ioann Kurmoyarov (born Dmitry Valeryevich Kurmoyarov, 8 January 1968)
under Article 207.3 ("Public dissemination, under the guise of credible
statements, of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed
Forces of the Russian Federation in order to protect the interests of the
Russian Federation and its citizens [and] maintain international peace and
security").
Fr Ioann – a member of a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside
Russia which is not in communion with the Moscow Patriarchate – is on
trial in St Petersburg
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
his YouTube channel in which he criticises the Moscow Patriarchate's
support for the war, suggests the "aggressors" will not go to heaven, and
argues that "Every condemnation of this aggression, this war on Ukraine, is
a spiritual matter. All Christians should do it on principle."
Fr Ioann has so far undergone seven hearings at St Petersburg's Kalinin
District Court. At the latest hearing, on 6 February, prosecutors requested
time for expert analysis of another 57 videos from Fr Ioann's YouTube
channel, and the judge extended his detention period to 28 May. He is next
due to appear in court on 13 February.
St Petersburg Investigative Committee did not answer Forum 18's October
2022 questions (https://www.forum18.org/archi
what material forms the basis for the case against Fr Ioann, why the
expression of religious views on war in general and in Ukraine is
considered "false information" about the Russian armed forces, and why it
was considered necessary to put him in detention. St Petersburg City
Prosecutor's Office also did not answer Forum 18's questions, sent the same
month.
Fr Ioann has been in detention at St Petersburg's Kresty prison since his
arrest in June 2022 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
In August 2022, Darya Lebedeva, head of the joint court system press
service for St Petersburg, insisted to Forum 18
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
be held in detention because: "if at liberty and not isolated from society,
Kurmoyarov may continue his criminal activity, conceal himself from
investigators and the court, destroy evidence and otherwise interfere with
the criminal proceedings".
Belyayeva: Police looking for her, although she left Russia
Nina Belyayeva – a Baptist and Communist Party municipal deputy who is
the subject of the only other
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
207.3 ("Public dissemination, under the guise of credible statements, of
knowingly false information on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian
Federation") case initiated on the basis of religious opposition to the war
– remains outside Russia.
Investigators also charged Belyayeva twice under Criminal Code Article
205.2, Part 2 ("Public calls to carry out terrorist activities, made using
the internet") because of interviews she had a given to a "foreign blogger"
in which she "publicly called for violent regime change in the Russian
Federation".
Belyayeva left Russia in April 2022, shortly after the meeting of Semiluk
District Council in which she denounced the invasion of Ukraine as a war
crime, stating that "murdering other people" and invading "the territory of
another state, which has nothing to do with the goal of self-defence of
one's own state" have "nothing in common with Christian beliefs".
In summer 2022, the Interior Ministry added Belyayeva to its wanted list.
In August 2022, at the request of the Investigator
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) "List of Terrorists
and Extremists" (https://www.forum18.org/archi
blocking any bank accounts she might have in Russia.
On 27 January 2023, the Investigative Committee in Voronezh Region
suspended its investigation on the basis that she had fled the country.
Belyayeva stated on her Telegram channel on 1 February that the Criminal
Investigation Department of the Semiluk District police had been instructed
to find her.
Kazan: "Discreditation" of the Russian Armed Forces
On 21 September 2022, a court in Kazan handed Fr Gleb Aleksandrovich
Krivoshein, a Moscow Patriarchate priest from the city, a 15,000 Rouble
fine under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3, Part 1 ("Public actions
aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian
Federation"). He was punished for signing an open letter against Russia's
invasion of Ukraine
(https://docs.google.com/forms
The letter - signed by nearly 300 Russian Orthodox priests inside and
outside the country - criticised the suppression of protests against the
war, and stated that "we believe that the people of Ukraine should make
their choice on their own, not at gunpoint, without pressure from West or
East".
Several Moscow Patriarchate priests who signed the open letter soon
requested to be made supernumerary
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
meaning that they remain priests but are not formally employed in a parish,
cathedral, or other institution).
In its written verdict, seen by Forum 18, Kazan's Vakhitovsky District
Court stated that Fr Gleb had "signed the public petition 'On the
termination of the fratricidal war on the territory of Ukraine', posted on
the Internet – that is, carried out public actions aimed at discrediting
the use of the Armed Forces in order to protect the interests of the
Russian Federation and its citizens [and] maintain international peace and
security, expressed in a public call to prevent the use of the Armed Forces
for these purposes".
In court, Fr Gleb pleaded not guilty, arguing that the petition was "not of
a political nature, but a spiritual, religious one". Judge Dinar
Khabibullin nevertheless found him guilty, deciding to impose a punishment
of half the minimum fine, given that Fr Gleb has two underage children and
it was his first offence.
Fr Gleb did not appeal against his conviction and appears to be still in
post at the Church of the Yaroslavl Miracleworkers in Kazan's Arskoye
Cemetery.
Forum 18 wrote to the Tatarstan Republic Interior Ministry and Vakhitovsky
District Court on 8 February 2023, asking why a petition calling for
reconciliation and an end to the war should be considered "discreditation"
of the Russian Armed Forces, and why Fr Gleb was prosecuted when the text
of the petition was published before Administrative Code Article 20.3.3
came into force. Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the Kazan
working day on 10 February.
Fr Gleb's prosecution appears to be the first directly connected to the
Orthodox priests' appeal against Russia's war in Ukraine.
"Legally and morally null and void"
On 18 January 2023, Tagansky District Court in Moscow fined the independent
Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe 500,000 Roubles – the maximum
for a legal entity under Article 20.3.3, Part 1 ("Public actions aimed at
discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation"). The
news outlet was punished for an interview it carried out with one of the
authors of the 2022 Orthodox petition against Russia's war, Fr Andrey
Kordochkin, dean of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Mary Magdalene in
Madrid.
In comments on his Telegram channel on the day of the verdict, Fr Andrey
himself called the case "legally and morally null and void, just like the
laws that substantiate it".
No written verdict is yet available on the Moscow court system website, but
Fr Andrey noted on his Telegram channel that he had read the investigation
report and concluded that "it is not worth the paper on which I printed it.
'Undermining trust', 'diminishing authority', 'lowering a positive
assessment', 'forcing negative meanings' – all these phrases can be
applied to any critical statement".
Judges frequently use such phrases in Article 20.3.3 court verdicts to
describe defendants' actions, Forum 18 has found.
The interview with Fr Andrey was published on the website of Novaya
Rasskaz-gazeta
(https://novaya.media/articles
the outlet's magazine, on 24 October 2022, the six-month anniversary of
Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine.
In it, Fr Andrey discussed the relationship between church and state, the
dangers of ignorance, the psychological effects of propaganda, the dilemma
faced by those deciding whether to emigrate, and the atomisation of Russian
society.
Fr Andrey criticised the "doctrinal basis" for the war – ie. the idea
that Russians and Ukrainians are one people in one spiritual space, and in
Patriarch Kirill's view, part of the same Church – as well as the
Patriarch's pronouncement that "a person who goes to participate in
hostilities and dies, faithful to the oath, is absolved of all sins".
"This is a concept that is actually based on nothing", Fr Andrey argued,
but did not call it heresy, as he noted that heresy is only possible when
there is theological thought: "Here, there is no theological thinking,
there is simply an attempt to sacralise violence".
Fr Andrey goes on to cite Archbishop Benjamin (Peterson) of San Francisco
(of the Orthodox Church in America), who commented that the Patriarch's
view is "a new idea that has no justification in our theology", and that "a
soldier who has committed a war crime and does not repent is more like a
terrorist than a Christian martyr. After all, a martyr sacrifices his own
life, not someone else's."
"It is hard to imagine a greater discreditation of the Russian army than to
send it against a people called 'fraternal', forcing them to experience the
same thing that was experienced by the peoples of the USSR during the
Second World War," Fr Andrey commented on his Telegram channel on 18
January. "The blockade, evacuation trains, shelters in the subway and
underground passages, children and old people in homes without heating and
electricity."
"You can publicly declare the total spiritual and intellectual superiority
of Russians over Ukrainians, you can publicly call for the burning and
drowning of Ukrainian children, you can declare Ukraine a 'bastard state'
and preach genocide and ethnic cleansing as part of its 'de-Ukrainisation',
without fear of either administrative or criminal punishment. At the same
time, the phrase 'no war', a poster with the commandment 'Thou shalt not
kill [Ne ubiy]', or St Philip's words about innocently shed blood, or, in
this case, an interview with a priest calling for the renunciation of
violence, become the subject of a trial with a predetermined ending. Thus,
Z-justice itself turns into a fake and with each unjust verdict goes to
hell in the most direct and biblical sense of the word."
Fr Andrey added: "Let me remind you that according to the Fundamentals of
the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Church cannot assist
the state in waging an aggressive external war."
Fr Andrey announced on his Facebook page on 3 February 2023 that the Church
had banned him from serving as a priest, though he did not give the reasons
(in September 2022, the Church also removed him from his position as
secretary of the Diocese of Spain and Portugal).
Novaya Gazeta Europe was launched in April 2022 in Riga. The long-running
independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta suspended publication in Russia in
March 2022, after the adoption of new laws on "discrediting" and
disseminating "false information" about the Armed Forces.
Novaya Gazeta websites have been repeatedly blocked by Russian state media
regulator Roskomnadzor, and its Russian media licence was withdrawn in
September 2022. At present, Novaya.media (which published Fr Andrey's
interview) and novayagazeta.ru are blocked, while novayagazeta.eu appears
not to be.
Vladivostok: Protester taken to psychiatric clinic
On 8 February 2023, a man (named only as Aleksey by human rights group
OVD-Info) stood in Vladivostok's Central Square, close to the Holy
Transfiguration Cathedral, with a poster reading: "Thou shalt not kill [Ne
ubivay]. The Bible. Deuteronomy 5:17".
Police officers detained Aleksey and took him away to give a statement.
Three hours later, a psychiatric first aid unit [brigada psikhiatricheskoy
pomoshchi] arrived at the police station; when he refused to answer their
questions, they took him to a psychiatric clinic [psikhdispanser], where
staff tried to establish what exactly he had wanted to say with the poster,
OVD-Info reported the same day.
Aleksey was released from the clinic after two hours. No case under
Administrative Code Article 20.3.3 or any other Article yet appears to have
been opened against him.
Moscow: Priest banned for praying for peace
The Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has
banned a priest from serving because he altered the wording of the Prayer
for Holy Rus, which was issued by Patriarch Kirill on 25 September 2022 for
obligatory use in all churches.
Fr Ioann Koval, of St. Andrew's Church in the Moscow district of Lyublino,
was allegedly denounced by a parishioner for changing the line "Arise, O
God, to help Thy people and give us victory by Thy power", to "Arise, O
God, to help Thy people and give us peace by Thy power".
A decree dated 2 February 2023 and signed by Patriarch Kirill bars Fr Ioann
from serving as a priest until his case has been examined by the Moscow
City Diocesan Council's Disciplinary Committee, the Moscow Diocese noted
(http://moseparh.ru/ukaz-u-022
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For more background see Forum 18's survey of the general state of freedom
of religion and belief in Russia
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
18's survey of the dramatic decline in this freedom related to Russia's
Extremism Law (https://www.forum18.org/archi
A personal commentary by the Director of the SOVA Center for Information
and Analysis (https://www.sova-center.ru), Alexander Verkhovsky, about the
systemic problems of Russian "anti-extremism" laws
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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