Source: www.forum18.org
Date: October 17, 2023
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
Eleven months after Russia's National Guard in November 2022 seized two
Greek Catholic priests, Fr Ivan Levytsky and Fr Bohdan Heleta, in the
Ukrainian city of Berdyansk, the occupying forces have given no information
on whether they are still alive and, if so, where and why they are being
held. Similarly, the occupiers have given no information on the fate of Fr
Kostiantyn Maksimov, a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Tokmak,
seized as he tried to cross into Crimea in May 2023.
Among other religious leaders seized and held earlier by Russian forces in
occupied Ukraine was Fr Ihor Novosilsky. He was priest of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church parish of Holy Princess Olha in the village of Tokarivka in
Kherson Region, and was held between August 2022 and May 2023. The Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has
documented that Fr Ihor was tortured while being held by the occupation
forces (see below).
Russian occupation forces have repeatedly refused to answer Forum 18's
questions about where disappeared clergy are being held, and what their
state of health is.
Russian occupation forces have seized religious leaders of a variety of
faiths since their renewed invasion of Ukraine from February 2022. It
remains unclear in many of the cases whether the seizure of religious
leaders aimed to punish them for their exercise of freedom of religion or
belief in ways the Russian occupation authorities did not like. However,
all those seized were known to play a leading role in their own religious
community (see below).
Russian occupation authorities seized two priests of the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine, Fr Khristofor Khrimli and Fr Andri Chui in mid-September. A
Russian news agency announced on 3 October that a Donetsk court had fined
them under Russia's anti-missionary law and ordered their "deportation"
(see below).
The UN Human Rights Committee has noted that enforced disappearances
violate various articles of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), and described them as "a grave threat to life".
The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said in
August it was "deeply concerned by numerous reports it has received
concerning enforced disappearances of civilians and prisoners of war
perpetrated by the Russian occupation forces since the beginning of the
armed conflict in Ukraine in February 2022" (see below).
Two priests fined and ordered "deported"
In mid-September 2023, the Russian occupation authorities seized two
priests of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Fr Khristofor Khrimli and Fr
Andri Chui. They took them to the Investigation Prison in Donetsk.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti announced on 3 October that a
Russian-controlled court had fined Fr Khristofor and Fr Andri under Russian
Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary
activity" (https://www.forum18.org/archi
incurs a fine of 30,000 to 50,000 Russian Roubles with the possibility of
deportation. A fine of 50,000 Russian Roubles represents more than two
months' average local wages for those in work.
The Judge in Donetsk fined the two priests 30,000 Russian Roubles each and
ordered their "deportation" (see forthcoming F18News article).
Enforced disappearance "a grave threat to life"
"The prohibition of enforced disappearance is enshrined in various
international human rights treaties and instruments," the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted in its 27
June 2023 report on Detention of civilians in the context of the armed
attack by the Russian Federation against Ukraine
(https://www.ohchr.org/sites/d
24 February 2022 – 23 May 2023.
The OHCHR noted that this prohibition is enshrined in the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(https://www.ohchr.org/en/inst
(ICCPR), and by the International Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance
(https://www.ohchr.org/en/inst
(ICPED).
Ukraine has acceded to both the ICCPR and the ICPED, but Russia has acceded
only to the ICCPR.
In its General Comment no. 36 (https://undocs.org/CCPR/C/GC/
Article 6 ("Right to Life") ICCPR, the UN Human Rights Committee stated:
"Enforced disappearance constitutes a unique and integrated series of acts
and omissions representing a grave threat to life." The Human Rights
Committee added: "The deprivation of liberty, followed by a refusal to
acknowledge that deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate of
the disappeared person, in effect removes that person from the protection
of the law and places his or her life at serious and constant risk, for
which the State is accountable."
On 22 November 2022, Russian occupation forces disappeared 52-year-old
Pentecostal deacon Anatoly Prokopchuk
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
son Aleksandr. Four days later their tortured and shot bodies were found in
a wood. The occupation forces refused to answer Forum 18's questions about
the case.
The Human Rights Committee went on to observe that enforced disappearances
violate a number of ICCPR articles, and that states must "prevent the
enforced disappearance of individuals, and conduct an effective and speedy
inquiry to establish the fate and whereabouts of persons who may have been
subject to enforced disappearance".
States must also punish the perpetrators of enforced disappearances parties
under criminal law, and "bring to justice the perpetrators of such acts and
omissions and ensure that victims of enforced disappearance and their
relatives are informed about the outcome of the investigation and are
provided with full reparation".
The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said in
August 2023 that it was "deeply concerned by numerous reports it has
received concerning enforced disappearances of civilians and prisoners of
war perpetrated by the Russian occupation forces since the beginning of the
armed conflict in Ukraine in February 2022."
The Working Group noted in its 8 August 2023 report (A/HRC/54/22
(https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/5
no meaningful interaction with the Russian Federation". This "would be
particularly beneficial for any individual under Russian jurisdiction, for
the Working Group remains one of the few international mechanisms left that
is available for victims of enforced disappearances" as Russia "has ceased
to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights".
"Disappeared" in November 2022: Fr Ivan Levytsky and Fr Bohdan Heleta
On 16 November 2022, troops of Russia's National Guard seized two Ukrainian
Greek Catholic priests
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Fr Bohdan Heleta, in the coastal town of Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhia Region.
There is no information about where they are, their state of health – or
if they are still alive.
When in May 2023 Forum 18 asked the Russian Berdyansk Police where the
priests are, they replied
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Ask [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky's special services – they're
responsible." The occupation police officer refused to give any evidence
for this claim and put the phone down.
Artyom Sharlay, the head of the Russian occupiers' Religious Organisations
Department at Zaporizhzhia Regional Administration's Social and Political
Communications and Information Policy Department, insisted (without
producing evidence) that Fr Levytsky and Fr Heleta stored weapons in their
church (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Sharlay rejected suggestions that Fr Levytsky and Fr Heleta had been
kidnapped. "No one is kidnapped here, I stress this," he told Forum 18 from
Melitopol on 12 October. "If they committed a crime they had to be
arrested." But he refused to tell Forum 18 where the two priests are and
why they are still being held without any opportunity to communicate with
their diocesan leadership or their families.
Sharlay claimed to Forum 18 that the two priests will face trial "as soon
as new [Russian-controlled] courts are established here". He refused to say
which Russian agency is investigating Fr Levytsky and Fr Heleta, what
charges they might face, and who any lawyer for the two might be.
Sharlay criticised a wide range of religious communities
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
critical of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. "This has never been
traditional in this area," he claimed, also claiming it "represents an
expansion of Western culture". Sharlay did not explain why these claims
justified human rights violations.
The duty officer at the Russian Investigative Committee for Zaporizhzhia
Region said that it had no criminal case against Fr Levytsky and Fr Heleta
and no information about them. "If they were detained last year, any case
would be with the police or maybe the FSB," the official – who did not
give his name – told Forum 18 from Melitopol on 17 October. "We were only
set up this year."
The Investigative Committee official noted that there is no Investigation
Prison in Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia Region. "People go to
the Investigation Prison in Crimea."
Crimea has two Investigation Prisons, both in Simferopol. An official of
the Special Department at Investigation Prison No. 1, which has the names
of all those being held in the prison, refused to tell Forum 18 on 17
October if either Fr Levytsky or Fr Heleta is being held there. Officials
at the Special Department at Investigation Prison No. 2 did not answer
their phones the same day.
Telephones at the Russian-controlled Berdyansk police went unanswered on 17
October.
"Disappeared" in May 2023: Fr Kostiantyn Maksimov
Since 2021, Fr Kostiantyn Maksimov, a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church, has been serving in the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary in the city of Tokmak in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Region. Tokmak
has been under Russian occupation with the beginning of the renewed
invasion in February 2022.
Russian occupation forces detained Fr Kostiantyn in Chongar when he
attempted to cross the administrative boundary with the occupied Ukrainian
territory of Crimea on 16 May 2023. "From that time until now, there was no
contact with Maksimov. There is information that the clergyman was probably
removed from the car and detained by the Russian military and is in a
filtration camp in [the Crimean city of] Dzhankoi," Ukrainsky Pohlyad news
website noted on 13 June.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
expressed concern about the fate of Fr Kostiantyn after his detention by
the Russians. "As of 31 July 2023, his fate and whereabouts remained
unknown despite multiple requests from his relatives to the occupying
authorities and official institutions of the Russian Federation, raising
serious concerns with respect to enforced disappearance," the OHCHR noted
in its 4 October report on the human rights situation in Ukraine
(https://www.ohchr.org/sites/d
covering between February and July.
The Center for Civil Liberties in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which has
been following Fr Kostiantyn's case, says in its report "Prisoner's Voice"
(https://drive.google.com/file
that "the violent abduction of civilians and their unjustified detention is
one of the most common crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine".
The duty officer at the Russian-controlled Tokmak Police said he had no
information about Fr Kostiantyn. "If he was detained in Chongar, how would
we have any information?" the officer – who did not give his name –
told Forum 18 on 17 October. "Even if we had, we wouldn't give it by
phone."
Artyom Sharlay, the head of the Russian occupiers' Religious Organisations
Department at Zaporizhzhia Regional Administration's Social and Political
Communications and Information Policy Department, would not say where Fr
Kostiantyn is. "I have not heard that he's left [the Russian-occupied
territories]," Sharlay told Forum 18 from Melitopol on 12 October. "He's
not serving [as a priest," he added.
Sharlay claimed that Fr Kostiantyn had not wanted the Berdyansk Diocese of
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to move to be an integral part of the Russian
Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church took over the Diocese in May,
just days before Fr Kostiantyn was seized, following a request from some
clergy. The Russian Orthodox Church replaced Metropolitan Yefrem (Yarinko),
who had fled to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Sharlay did not explain why his claims about Fr Kostiantyn's views on the
affiliation of his Diocese could justify the occupation forces' enforced
disappearance of him.
Officials pressured another local Ukrainian Orthodox Church priest, Fr
Vladimir Saviisky of St Nicholas Church in Primorsk, in 2023 to accept the
transfer of the Berdyansk Diocese from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the
Russian Orthodox Church. He refused (see forthcoming F18News article).
Kherson Region: Eight months in Russian detention
Among other religious leaders seized and held earlier by Russian forces in
occupied Ukraine was Fr Ihor Novosilsky. He was priest of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church parish of Holy Princess Olha in the village of Tokarivka in
Kherson Region.
"In August 2022 the occupiers arrested the UOC priest and threw him in
Kherson Investigation Prison," fellow priest Fr Georgi Gulyaev wrote on
Facebook on 24 May 2023. He said that in November 2022, just before Russian
forces withdrew from the right bank of the River Dnipro, they took Fr Ihor
and other prisoners to territory on the left bank that they still occupied.
The Russians finally released Fr Ihor in May 2023.
"After 9 months of physical abuse and psychological pressure, the priest is
seeking treatment and rehabilitation, Fr Georgi added. "According to
relatives, hunger and torture left wounds on his health. But the main thing
is that he's safe now!"
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
documented Fr Ihor's detention and torture by Russian occupation forces
(though without giving his name). "They detained [the] victim, a
pro-Ukrainian priest, from August 2022 to May 2023 in three different
facilities in Kherson region," the OHCHR noted in its 4 October report on
the human rights situation in Ukraine
(https://www.ohchr.org/sites/d
covering between February and July. "In one of them, he was tortured and
ill-treated."
Russia's legally-binding international human rights obligations under the
UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
(https://www.ohchr.org/en/inst
require officials suspected of involvement in torture to be arrested and
put on criminal trial for torture.
Forum 18 asked the Press Service of Kherson Region's Russian police in
writing on 11 October why Fr Ihor was held for eight months and tortured.
Forum 18 also asked whether anyone has been arrested for his torture and,
if not, when they will be so that they can be brought to trial. Forum 18
had received no response by the end of the working day in Ukraine of 17
October.
Religious figures held for days, weeks, months
Russian occupation forces have seized religious leaders of a variety of
faiths since their renewed invasion of Ukraine from February 2022. It
remains unclear in many of the cases whether the seizure of religious
leaders aimed to punish them for their exercise of freedom of religion or
belief in ways the Russian occupation authorities did not like. However,
all those seized were known to play a leading role in their own religious
community.
Some leaders were released after days, weeks or even months in Russian
custody, such as Leonid Ponomaryov, Pastor of a Baptist Council of Churches
congregation in Mariupol, and his wife Tatyana who were held from 21
September to 21 October 2022
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
While in Russian custody, occupation forces subjected some of the seized
religious leaders to torture. These include Imam Rustem Asanov
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
the Birlik (Unity) Mosque in the village of Shchastlivtseve in Henichesk
District in Ukraine's Kherson Region. (END)
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Occupied
Ukraine
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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