On the night of February 15, the police conducted a raid in the village of Aibashi (Ulyanovsk region), where there is a community of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Tsarist Empire (ROC CI), which shares the idea of a “tsar-redeemer”; four believers were sent to a pre-trial detention center. The abbess of the Russian Orthodox Church Evdokia (Anna Stryukova) told OVD-Info about this.
According to Abbess Evdokia, the police beat the monks, humiliating and insulting them and mocking their faith. Security forces broke furniture, cut down doors and windows, and also desecrated holy places: they beat icons with batons and trampled them.
According to 73.online, about 70 people were detained then, but most of them were released without drawing up reports or bringing charges. As Abbess Evdokia notes, the believers were taken to the police department a hundred kilometers from the community in the cold without being allowed to dress.
Criminal cases were opened against Bishop Zosima (Leonid Vlasov), Metropolitan Enoch (Alexander Kormishenko), Bishop Simeon (Nikita Shostak) and Schema-Abbess Sophronia (Marina Potemina). All of them are charged with an article about the activities of a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens (Article 239 of the Criminal Code). Bishop Zosima is also accused of justifying terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code).
On February 16, the believers were sent to a pre-trial detention center. According to the court’s website , Bishop Zosima and Metropolitan Enoch are charged with creating a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens (Part 2 of Article 239 of the Criminal Code), and Bishop Simeon and Schema Abbess Sophronia are charged with participating in the activities of such an organization (Part 3 of Article 239 of the Criminal Code ).
Abbess Evdokia writes that those detained on criminal charges were beaten, tortured with cold, their beards were set on fire, and they were also denied access to food and water. She adds that Bishop Zosima spent several days in a cold basement, where he was given chlorinated water. Because of this, the detainee began to have health problems, but he was denied medical care.
The publication 73.online published a video with questions that were asked to Bishop Zosima at the trial. The clergyman was asked about the “triune Rus'” and connections with the Ukrainian church. According to the publication, Bishop Zosima is in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Ulyanovsk; the court arrested him for two months, until April 15.
The news test has been changed: we have clarified which part of the article about a non-profit organization that infringes on the identity and rights of citizens is being charged to which of the believers.