The Verkhnepyshminsky city court of the Sverdlovsk region found the former priest Sergiy (Nikolai Romanov) guilty under the article on inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). It is reported by Mediazona.

Sergiy was fined 18 thousand rubles. An administrative case was opened because of Romanov's sermon. According to the court, the defrocked clergyman incited hatred towards a group of people on a national basis, and also called for the eviction from the country of people who called for observing the “self-isolation regime”.

In one of his recent appeals, Romanov demanded that the powers of the president be transferred to him. “Three days - and I will put things in order in Russia,” he said in the video. Otherwise, Sergius promised to declare spiritual war on Putin and Patriarch Kirill.
In May 2020, it became known that Center "E" was checking a video of shiigumen Sergius, who is considered the confessor of State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya, where he talks about the closure of churches due to the coronavirus. In the video, the clergyman stated that “our spiritual leadership is closing churches, referring to a pseudo-pandemic,” and also cursed those who “encroach on the closure of churches.”
already In July, Sergius was fined 90 thousand rubles, but under another article - Part 9 of Art. 13.15 Administrative Code (fake news) due to video message.

In the Sverdlovsk region, a court fined a former priest because of a sermon