By death

Judge of the Zheleznodorozhny district of Vitebsk Denis Alekseenko sentenced the 39-year-old priest Nikolai Kireev from the Leningrad Region to 5.5 years in prison in a colony of reinforced regime with confiscation of property, TUT.BY reports . It was found guilty under part 2 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (exporting to prostitution to engage in the state).

Kireev did not admit his guilt. “I am not guilty, I don’t admit my guilt. I didn’t take these people anywhere,” the priest said.

The hearings lasted three weeks in closed mode. The victims of security reasons changed the questionnaire.

On August 3, 39-year-old Kireev, priest of the church of Peter and Paul in the village of named after Morozova of the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region, was detained in Vitebsk. It was originally reported that this happened during the storm of the brothel. However, later, the Investigative Committee of Belarus said that the priest was detained when he got on a bus, next to St. Petersburg, along with 20-year-old and 30-year-old women.

According to the investigation, Kireev from April to August 2017 corresponded with them on the Internet. Having received the consent of women to engage in prostitution in St. Petersburg, the priest came to Vitebsk to deliver them to Russia.

Investigators also found that in January-February Kireev, "in conspiracy with 19-year-old citizen of Tajikistan and other persons" led a similar correspondence with other Belarusians. Two of them agreed to engage in prostitution in Russia. In February, at the direction of Kireev, a citizen of Tajikistan came to Gomel and tried to take them to Petersburg for. However, when landing, it was detained.

The court of the Zheleznodorozhny district of Gomel sentenced the recruiter to 5 years in prison with confiscation of property. In the colony, the woman saw a television on the detention of Kireev in Vitebsk men. In it, she recognized the man who sent her to Gomel.

On August 2, Kireev, according to his wife, left the house dressed in civilian clothes, explaining that he was going on a pilgrimage to the Moscow Region. The last time he called his wife the next day before dinner and said that he was leaving for the New Jerusalem Monastery in Rostra. Kireev did not call Kireev more and did not answer the challenges. The priest’s wife turned to the police, where they found out that Kireev was detained in Vitebsk .

The rector of the Church of Peter and Pavel Sergey Kukharev described his subordinate as a man of "very quiet, executive." “Perhaps this is, as they say, a setup,” Archpriest suggested. To the question of journalists, whether Kireev and the rector did "about the salvation of the lost souls or something like that," Kukharev answered negatively.

Kireev’s current visit to Vitebsk was already at least the fifth in a row. It is known that earlier he visited this Belarusian city in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014.