In St. Petersburg, a priest arrested under the article about “fake news” disappeared from a pre-trial detention center

In St. Petersburg, priest Ioann Kurmoyarov disappeared, arrested in the case of “fake news” about the Russian army (clause “e”, part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). His lawyer Leonid Krikun told OVD-Info about this.

On June 10, Krikun came to pre-trial detention center-1 “Kresty-2” to meet with his client, but the pass office employees reported that Kurmoyarov was not in the pre-trial detention center. Employees of the pre-trial detention center-6 “Gorelovo” also said that the priest did not come to them. The lawyer was advised to go to the temporary detention center, but Kurmoyarov was not there either.

Earlier, investigator Luzhetsky told Krikun that “despite all his efforts, Father John does not want to admit guilt,” and asked the lawyer to “work” with him, promising to include mitigating circumstances in the case.

The trial to select a preventive measure for the priest took place without a defense lawyer. “The investigator most likely deliberately fooled [the lawyer] and kept delaying the meeting so that he would not have a lawyer at the trial,” Father John’s brother Alexander Kurmoyarov told OVD-Info.

Krikun fears that his client could be pressured or used violence against him. “I have a strong conviction that the behavior of investigator Luzhetsky on the first day of “working” with Father John, his proposals for me to continue the pressure he had begun on the accused, as well as the absence of Father John for his defense lawyer in all institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service in St. Petersburg may indicate violence against him with unauthorized methods of investigation and attempts to hide traces of this crime,” the lawyer noted in a letter sent to human rights activist and Archbishop Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko.

The initiation of a case against Father John (Dmitry Kurmoyarov) and his detention became known on the morning of June 8. The case was opened because of a video that the clergyman published in March. The video said that Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine will go to hell, not heaven. “In heaven there are “blessed are the peacemakers,” “peacemakers,” do you understand what the problem is? And those who unleashed aggression will not be in heaven,” the priest said.

• In 2020, the Metropolitan banned Father John from serving after the latter criticized the main church of the Armed Forces, which then opened in the Moscow region. “This is another example of how Orthodoxy is turning into banal paganism with its temples, heavenly patrons, icons of military branches, professional temples,” Kurmoyarov wrote on his Facebook. The banwas later lifted . However, he was not allowed to teach at the Novosibirsk Theological Seminary, where the priest had previously worked, and to remain in the same diocese. After this, Kurmoyarov left the city.
• Since February 24—the first day of the “special operation” in Ukraine—residents of Russian cities have been going out to anti-war rallies every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements become grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 170 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our guide .
• Article 207.3 was included in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - in this way the government responded to anti-war speeches and statements, as well as the dissemination of information about the war that did not come from official Russian sources. For spreading “fake news” you can get up to 15 years in prison.