Source: www.forum18.org
Date: February 20, 2024
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
Unknown men from the Russian occupation forces seized 59-year-old Fr Stepan
Podolchak of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on 13 February in the Ukrainian
village of Kalanchak in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Region. They
took him away barefoot with a bag over his head, insisting he needed to
come for questioning. His bruised body – possibly with a bullet-wound to
the head - was found on the street in the village on 15 February and taken
to the morgue. Morgue staff phoned his wife to identify the body.
Fr Stepan's family buried his body in Kalanchak on Sunday 18 February (see
below).
Serhy Danilov, who worked on projects to support civil society in Kherson
Region from 2014, told Forum 18 he thinks the men who seized Fr Stepan were
from the Russian Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering Extremism. He
thinks from knowledge of other people seized by the Russians that they
might have taken Fr Stepan to the detention centre at nearby Chaplinka (see
below).
Fr Stepan's body showed signs of bruising and traces of having been in
handcuffs, Danilov said. Some reports he had received said Fr Stepan's body
had a bullet-wound to the head. The death certificate issued to the family
claimed that Fr Stepan had died of a heart attack, Danilov added (see
below).
Bishop Nikodim (Kulygin) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's Kherson and
Tavria Diocese (the diocese neighbouring Fr Stepan's Kherson and Kakhovka
Diocese) told Forum 18 that Russian occupation forces "tortured Fr Stepan
to death" (see below).
"The Russians tortured him to death," Svitlana Fomina, the head of the
exiled Kalanchak village military administration (which operates from
Ukrainian government-held territory), told the Kyiv-based Centre for
Journalistic Investigations. "He was always pro-Ukrainian, conducted all
services in Ukrainian, prayed for Ukraine, even under occupation.
Apparently, because of this, the Russians took away the most valuable thing
that a person has - life" (see below).
When Forum 18 on 19 February asked Kalanchak's Russian police what action
they have taken or will take following the killing of Orthodox Church of
Ukraine priest Fr Stepan, the duty officer (who did not give his name)
replied: "For a long time this [community] hasn't existed here and won't.
Forget about it." He then put the phone down (see below).
The official who answered the phone at the Russian Investigative Committee
of Kherson Region, who did not give his name, refused to answer Forum 18's
questions about the death of Fr Stepan by phone. "Fill in the form on our
website," he told Forum 18. "We will respond within the required 30 days"
(see below).
Through the Russian Investigative Committee website, Forum 18 noted the
suspicions of local people that Fr Stepan might have been tortured to death
and asked:
- whether an investigation into Fr Stepan's death is underway and, if so,
which agency is conducting it;
- whether a criminal case has been opened and, if so, under what Criminal
Code article;
- whether anyone has been arrested already and, if so, how many people.
Forum 18 has received no response (see below).
Under the United Nations (UN) Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Russia is obliged both to
take into custody any person suspected on good grounds of having committed
torture "or take other legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and
also to try them under criminal law which makes "these offences punishable
by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature". This
routinely does not happen, including when the torture happens within
Russia's internationally-recognised borders (see below).
Fr Stepan chose to remain in Kalanchak to serve his community after the
Russian occupation of much of Ukraine's Kherson Region in early 2022. "Fr
Stepan was someone who felt he couldn't abandon his people," Danilov told
Forum 18. Russian officials banned his community from continuing to use a
rented room in Kalanchak's House of Culture. Fr Stepan continued to lead
services in the half-finished church he was building (see below).
"The [Russian] police and FSB repeatedly pressured Fr Stepan to move to the
Moscow Patriarchate," Danilov told Forum 18. "He told them he couldn't
betray his oath and community" (see below).
Russian occupation officials have often threatened religious leaders if
they refuse to renounce their allegiance to religious bodies they do not
like. Russian occupation officials dislike the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,
the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and religious communities of any faith
which remain part of communities with headquarters in Ukrainian
government-held territory (see below).
Russian occupation forces have also kidnapped, tortured, and killed other
Ukrainian religious community leaders since the February 2022 renewed
Russian invasion (see below).
More than 10 years' service in Kalanchak
Fr Stepan Podolchak was a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the
village of Kalanchak in the southern Skadovsk District of Kherson Region.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was recognised as canonical by the
Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2019. It is separate from the Russian Orthodox
Church Moscow Patriarchate and its affiliate in government-held Ukraine,
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The 59-year-old priest, who was married with children and grandchildren,
was originally from Lviv Region in western Ukraine and was ordained priest
in 1998. He had served for more than ten years in Kalanchak.
Fr Stepan held services in a rented room in Kalanchak's House of Culture
until the Russian invasion of the area in spring 2022. Soon after the
occupation, the Russians banned him from continuing to use the rented
premises. He then held services in the half-finished Church of All the Holy
Lands which he was building in Kalanchak.
"Fr Stepan had built the walls and was trying to complete the building,"
Serhy Danilov told Forum 18. Danilov is a Kyiv-based anthropologist who
worked on projects to support civil society in Kherson Region from 2014.
Remained after Russian occupation
After the occupation of most of Kherson Region
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
launched its renewed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Fr Stepan chose
not to flee to Ukrainian government-held territory. He continued to serve
in the village and continued to conduct the liturgy in Ukrainian as a
priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
"Fr Stepan was someone who felt he couldn't abandon his people," Serhy
Danilov told Forum 18. "He felt responsible for them."
The Russian occupation forces repeatedly pressured Fr Stepan to transfer
from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to the Moscow Patriarchate Russian
Orthodox Church. (The Moscow Patriarchate has unilaterally transferred some
dioceses from its branch in Ukraine – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church –
to be directly subject to the Patriarch in Moscow.)
"The [Russian] police and FSB repeatedly pressured Fr Stepan to move to the
Moscow Patriarchate," Danilov told Forum 18. "He told them he couldn't
betray his oath and community."
Russian occupiers' targeting of religious community leaders
Russian occupation officials have often threatened religious leaders
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
renounce their allegiance to religious bodies they do not like. Russian
occupation officials dislike the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church, and religious communities of any faith which remain
part of communities with headquarters in Ukrainian government-held
territory.
Russian occupation officials tried to pressure two priests in occupied
Donetsk Region - Fr Khristofor Khrimli and Fr Andri Chui - to transfer from
the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Fr Khristofor and Fr Andri were arrested in September 2023
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russian FSB department which controlled the exercise of freedom of religion
or belief. "Officials told them that if they renounce the Orthodox Church
of Ukraine and repent of their affiliation with it on camera, and transfer
to the Moscow Patriarchate and undergo re-ordination, they would give them
a good parish where they would enjoy a good standard of living,"
Metropolitan Serhy (Horobtsov) told Forum 18 in January 2024. Both priests
refused.
Fr Khristofor and Fr Andri were fined and ordered deported for conducting
"illegal missionary activity". They were illegally transferred from
occupied Donetsk Region to Russia's Rostov Region, where they are being
held in the Deportation Centre in the village of Sinyavskoe in Neklinovsky
District. They refused to be deported to Latvia
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
wished to return to Donetsk.
Russian occupation forces have also kidnapped, tortured, and killed other
Ukrainian religious community leaders since the February 2022 renewed
Russian invasion. Such cases include the March 2022 torture of Imam Rustem
Asanov (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Tatar, of the Birlik (Unity) Mosque in the village of Shchastlivtseve in
Henichesk District in Ukraine's Kherson Region. Imam Asanov was pressured
in Russian detention to cut the mosque community's ties to the Spiritual
Administration in Kyiv, and subjugate his mosque community to the Spiritual
Administration of Muslims of Crimea in the occupied Ukrainian city of
Simferopol.
Russian occupation forces forced the mosque to close
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
On 22 November 2022, the Russian military seized a businessman and
Pentecostal deacon 52-year-old Anatoly Prokopchuk and his 19-year-old son
Aleksandr Prokopchuk, who lived in Nova Kakhovka in Kherson Region. On 26
November, their shot and mutilated bodies were found in a nearby wood
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
officials refused to answer Forum 18's questions about the torture and
killing of the Prokopchuks.
On 8 November 2023, the three UN Special Rapporteurs on the rights to
freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, on minority issues, and on
freedom of religion or belief wrote to the Russian authorities (AL RUS
25/2023
(https://spcommreports.ohchr.o
expressing their "serious concern for the alleged enforced disappearances
and torture or ill-treatment of clergy in the occupied territories in
violation of international human rights law", and other freedom of religion
or belief violations.
Russia replied to the UN on 21 November
(https://spcommreports.ohchr.o
"all requests made in a manner offensive to the authorities and population
of the Russian Federation, using language that is inconsistent with the
principle of respect for the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the
territorial integrity of Russia, will be left unanswered".
Seized on Tuesday, body found on Thursday
On 13 February 2024, Russian occupation forces arrived at Fr Stepan's home
in Kalanchak and searched it, taking away several boxes of items. The men
then took him away without saying where they were taking him, Svitlana
Fomina, head of exiled Kalanchak village military administration (which
operates from Ukrainian government-held territory), told the Kyiv-based
Centre for Journalistic Investigations on 15 February
(https://investigator.org.ua/u
bag over Fr Stepan's head before taking him away barefoot.
Although the men who took him did not identify themselves, Serhy Danilov
thinks they were from the Russian Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering
Extremism. He thinks from knowledge of other people seized by the Russians
that they might have taken Fr Stepan to the detention centre at Chaplinka,
25 kms (15 miles) to the north-east. "The Russians have taken many
prominent people to the detention centre there, which has a large bunker,"
Danilov added.
On 15 February, Fr Stepan's body was found on the street in Kalanchak,
Danilov added. Officials took the body to the morgue for it to be
identified. "On 15 February, his wife was called and ‘invited' to come
and identify the body of the deceased husband," Fomina said.
Danilov said Fr Stepan's body showed signs of bruising and traces of having
been in handcuffs. Some reports he had received said Fr Stepan's body had a
bullet-wound to the head. The death certificate issued to the family
claimed that Fr Stepan had died of a heart attack, Danilov added.
Fr Stepan's family buried his body in Kalanchak on Sunday 18 February.
"For a long time this [community] hasn't existed here and won't"
When Forum 18 on 19 February asked Kalanchak's Russian police what action
they have taken or will take following the killing of Orthodox Church of
Ukraine priest Fr Stepan, the duty officer (who did not give his name)
replied: "For a long time this [community] hasn't existed here and won't.
Forget about it." He then put the phone down.
Forum 18 was unable to speak to the head of the Russian occupation Skadovsk
District Police, Sergei Naberezhny. Officials in a different Interior
Ministry department there refused to give Forum 18 his number on 19
February. Forum 18 was also unable to reach the Russian Interior Ministry's
Centre for Countering Extremism in occupied Kherson Region.
The Russian occupation official who answered the phone at the Russian
Investigative Committee of Kherson Region, who did not give his name,
refused to answer Forum 18's questions about the death of Fr Stepan by
phone. "Fill in the form on our website," he told Forum 18 from Henichesk
on 19 February. "We will respond within the required 30 days."
Told that it was unknown who had taken Fr Stepan - whether the Russian
military, Rosgvardiya, the FSB security service or the police - the
official answered: "We don't deal with the military – that would be the
Military Investigative Department. If a crime is committed by the police or
civilians, then we would investigate."
Through the Russian Investigative Committee website, Forum 18 noted the
suspicions of local people that Fr Stepan might have been tortured to death
and on 19 February asked:
- whether an investigation into Fr Stepan's death is underway and, if so,
which agency is conducting it;
- whether a criminal case has been opened and, if so, under what Criminal
Code article;
- whether anyone has been arrested already and, if so, how many people.
Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the working day in
Henichesk of 20 February.
Under the United Nations (UN) Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Russia is obliged both to
take into custody (https://www.forum18.org/archi
person suspected on good grounds of having committed torture "or take other
legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and also to try them under
criminal law which makes "these offences punishable by appropriate
penalties which take into account their grave nature".
This routinely does not happen, including when the torture happens within
Russia's internationally-recognised borders
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
"The Russians tortured him to death"
Bishop Nikodim (Kulygin) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's Kherson and
Tavria Diocese (the diocese neighbouring Fr Stepan's Kherson and Kakhovka
Diocese) told Forum 18 on 16 February that Russian occupation forces
"tortured Fr Stepan to death".
(Bishop Nikodim himself lived under Russian occupation in the town of
Oleshky from the time Russian forces invaded in early 2022 until 17 July
2023, he told Forum 18.)
"The Russians tortured him to death," Svitlana Fomina, head of the exiled
Kalanchak village military administration (which operates from Ukrainian
government-held territory), also insists. "He was the brightest person I
was lucky enough to meet in my life. He is like an angel who came down to
earth - faithful to God, pure in soul, honest and just."
"He was always pro-Ukrainian, conducted all services in Ukrainian, prayed
for Ukraine, even under occupation. Apparently, because of this, the
Russians took away the most valuable thing that a person has - life,"
Fomina told the Centre for Journalistic Investigations. (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Occupied
Ukraine (https://www.forum18.org/archi
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