The Ural court recognized the sermons of Schema-Hegumen Sergius as extremist and fined the monk

The Verkhnepyshminsky City Court of the Sverdlovsk Region fined defrocked schema-abbot Sergius (Nikolai Romanov) 18 thousand rubles, finding him guilty of inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code). The hearing was broadcast on the court’s VKontakte account.

Sergiy himself did not come to the trial; his interests were represented by lawyer Svetlana Gerasimova, TASS reported . The monk was found guilty for his sermons, in which, according to the court, he incited hatred towards a group of people based on nationality, and also called for the eviction of people who called for observing the “self-isolation regime” from the country.

Previously, the same court fined Sergius 90 thousand rubles for distributing fake news about coronavirus (part 9 of article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences) also because of his sermons recorded on video.

In his videos, the monk called the situation with coronavirus a “pseudo-pandemic” and “cursed” those who close churches for this reason. According to the schema-monk, the epidemic was orchestrated by the world government and the Jewish Freemasons.

In July, the church court also defrocked Sergius because he disobeyed church leadership and continued to serve in the monastery after he was prohibited from doing so because of his sermons.