Chelyabinsk: the court fined a priest for publishing photographs of SS men on a social network

In March 2016, in Chelyabinsk, the court fined a priest 1,000 rubles. Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for publishing photos of SS men on the VKontakte network.

March 2016 The Metallurgical District Court of the city of Chelyabinsk considered an administrative case according to part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (propaganda and public display of Nazi symbols).

The case was initiated against Father Andrei Zverev, rector of the Greek Catholic parishes of Hieromartyr Josaphat Kuntsevich in Kopeysk and Blessed Confessor Leonid, Exarch of Russia in Chelyabinsk.

He was accused of posting on personal page on the social network "VKontakte" photos of SS men from the formed division "Galicia" in Ukraine. According to the investigation in the pictures in Ukrainian the language says “Time to remember the heroes”, “Division of Galicia. They don't go to war started. They were protecting their home."

The priest pleaded guilty and said that he published the photos in force who was interested in history. He copied the photos from the Internet.

The court fined him 1,000 rubles.

Sources

• Priest fined for posting Nazi photo on social media // Telefact.ru. March 25, 2016