Source: www.forum18.org
Date: April 15, 2024
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18
Eighty-seven-year-old Archbishop Viktor Pivovarov has become the fifth
person to receive a criminal conviction for criticising Russia's war in
Ukraine from a religious perspective. Slavyansk City Court in the southern
Krasnodar Region found him guilty on 8 April of repeatedly "discrediting"
the Russian Armed Forces, and fined him 150,000 Roubles, nearly eight times
the local average monthly pension.
The court punished Archbishop Viktor under Criminal Code Article 280.3,
Part 1 (see below).
According to Archbishop Viktor's church, most of the fine will be covered
by money seized from its premises during an armed raid by investigative
agencies in October 2023. During this raid, officers assaulted and arrested
the Archbishop's assistant, Hieromonk Iona Sigida, later charging him with
administrative offences (see below).
Archbishop Viktor has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and
the conduct of the war as "aggressive", "Satanic", and "cursed both by God
and by people", in his sermons and articles, and in a YouTube video by
independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe in May 2023. His first
(administrative) conviction was in March 2023 for anti-war comments in a
sermon (see below).
Investigators appear to have taken the Novaya Gazeta Europe interview as
his second "offence", along with a blog post entitled "An answer to the
question which concerns everyone today: what is this war?", published in
October 2023 (see below).
Forum 18 asked Slavyansk City Court:
- why the expression of religious opinion on the war in Ukraine and war in
general is considered discreditation of the Armed Forces;
- and in whose interests is the prosecution of an 87-year-old man for the
peaceful exercise of his freedom of conscience, religion, and expression.
Forum 18 has received no reply (see below).
A raid on its church in October 2023 and investigative agencies' monitoring
of its activities have left the parish community concerned. Sunday services
are continuing, but "of course not as normal", a church member who has left
Russia told Forum 18. "Many people have been scared away by recent events"
(see below).
The Krasnodar Region branches of the FSB security service, Interior
Ministry, and Investigative Committee and the Federal Investigative
Committee, as well as to the National Guard have not responded to Forum
18's questions as to whether the men who Fr Iona said tortured him during
the October 2023 armed raid on the church have been suspended from duty and
placed under investigation pending criminal charges for torture, in line
with Russia's obligations under the United Nations (UN) Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (see
below).
Viktor Pivovarov was ordained a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church
Outside Russia (ROCOR), which opened parishes inside Russia in the early
1990s. In 2006 he became an Archbishop in the Russian [Rossiyskaya]
Orthodox Church (RosPTs), which was founded after a series of splits within
ROCOR. He now leads a rival branch of RosPTs which he established in 2009
after a further split. It is not in communion with either other parts of
ROCOR or the Moscow Patriarchate.
"Discreditation" and "False information"
On 4 March 2022, specific Criminal Code and Administrative Code penalties
for "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces came into force, alongside
Criminal Code penalties for spreading "false information" about the Armed
Forces' actions. Some of the criminal penalties were increased on 28 March
2023 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Krasnodar Region: 87-year-old priest convicted of "discreditation"
On 8 April 2024, Judge Aleksey Rodionov of Slavyansk City Court found
Archbishop Viktor Ivanovich Pivovarov (born 8 February 1937) guilty of
repeatedly "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces under Criminal Code
Article 280.3, Part 1 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
for condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine on religious grounds. The Judge
handed him a fine of 150,000 Roubles, nearly eight times the local average
monthly pension.
Archbishop Viktor does not intend to appeal, a church member who is now
outside Russia told Forum 18. The sentence will therefore enter legal force
15 days after 8 April, when Slavyansk City Court issued the written
verdict. Archbishop Viktor remains under travel restrictions and a good
behaviour order during this time.
"The truth is that the Chekists will now take power", Archbishop Viktor
said in a short video on his YouTube channel, filmed outside the court
after his conviction. "I am waging war against Bolshevism. And I call on
all nations to fight – not Ukrainians against Russians and Russians
against Ukrainians, but all Christians should fight against the Bolsheviks.
This will be our victory." (The Archbishop sees the current Russian
government as successor to the Bolsheviks and as a conduit of Satanic
forces.)
The basis for the criminal prosecution appears to be an October 2023 post
on Archbishop Viktor's blog
(https://alsoaboutchrist.blogs
answer to the question which concerns everyone today: what is this war?",
as well as a video interview published by independent media outlet Novaya
Gazeta Europe in May 2023, in which Archbishop Viktor called the war
"cursed both by God and by people", and other articles and sermons.
"Special attention was also paid to his negative attitude towards V.V.
Putin and his activities", the Archbishop's church noted on its website on
27 February, after the first court hearing.
Forum 18 wrote to Slavyansk City Court before the start of the working day
of 9 April, asking:
- why the expression of religious opinion on the war in Ukraine and war in
general is considered discreditation of the Armed Forces;
- and in whose interests is the prosecution of an 87-year-old man for the
peaceful exercise of his freedom of conscience, religion, and expression.
Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the working day in Krasnodar
Region of 15 April.
Forum 18 has also repeatedly asked the Federal Investigative Committee why
the expression of religious opinion on the war in Ukraine and war in
general is considered discreditation of the Armed Forces, and (before the
trial) what purpose the imprisonment of an 87-year-old man would serve.
Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the working day in Krasnodar
Region of 15 April.
According to a statement on the Holy Intercession Tikhonite Church's
website (https://eshatologia.org/bibli
April, most of the fine will be paid out of money seized from its premises
in Slavyansk-na-Kubani during a raid by armed personnel, apparently from
the National Guard (Rosgvardiya), in October 2023. Parishioners plan to
raise the rest through donations.
Fines under Criminal Code Article 280.3, Part 1
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
300,000 Roubles; the offence also carries a possible prison term of up to 5
years. Prosecutors had requested a higher fine for Archbishop Viktor of
200,000 Roubles, a church member told Forum 18 from outside Russia.
According to the verdict, the judge took Archbishop Viktor's age into
account as a mitigating factor in the case.
The average state pension in Krasnodar Region is 19,264 Roubles per month
as of 1 January 2024. According to excerpts from the written verdict,
posted on the church website, the Archbishop told investigators that he
lives on money and goods donated by his parishioners.
Archbishop Viktor will have a criminal record (sudimost
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
being a convicted person) for one year after he pays the fine.
"What is this war?"
In March 2023, Slavyansk City Court handed Archbishop Viktor a
40,000-Rouble fine (https://www.forum18.org/archi
– one month's average local wage or more than two months' average local
pension – under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3, Part 1
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian
Federation") for an anti-war sermon he had given in church.
Subsequently, the Archbishop continued openly to oppose Russia's war in
Ukraine in his articles, his sermons (many of which are available on his
YouTube channel), and in a video made by independent Russian media outlet
Novaya Gazeta Europe and published on 5 May 2023
(https://novayagazeta.eu/artic
In this video, Archbishop Viktor says that he told investigators
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
administrative case that "If there are foreign tanks under our windows,
that means we are at war with an enemy, but if our tanks are in a
neighbouring country, and our soldiers are savagely torturing the people,
waging an aggressive war, then such a war is cursed both by God and by
people".
Archbishop Viktor's criminal prosecution also appears to be based on a blog
post dated 12 October 2023
(https://alsoaboutchrist.blogs
"An answer to the question which concerns everyone today: what is this
war?".
This article, as Aleksandr Soldatov noted in Novaya Gazeta on 29 December
2023, is an "explanation of [Archbishop Viktor's] attitude towards wars,
and in the spirit of traditional Orthodox exegesis .. links wars with the
sinful corruption of human nature".
"In the most recent war [in Ukraine], it is not the enemy's weapons that
are deliberately destroyed by the Satanists in order to stop the war, but
the people themselves", the Archbishop writes, "the gene pool of the
nation, who decided to leave the camp of Satan and join those free from
him".
Archbishop Viktor concludes: "The holy war will end with the victory of the
holy forces, and God's judgment will begin on all the worlds and those
living in them. The worlds are already called 'new heavens and new earth',
'in which dwells righteousness (Revelation 21:1). And then God will be in
everything'."
"To undermine in the eyes of others the dignity and authority of the Armed
Forces"
In December 2023, investigators summoned Archbishop Viktor for questioning
and informed him that they had opened a case against him
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Article 280.3, Part 1
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
did not say for which agency they worked, but it now appears from the court
verdict that it was the Slavyansk department of the Investigative Committee
which both handled the criminal case and led the raid on the Holy
Intercession Tikhonite Church in October 2023.
Slavyansk City Court registered the case on 22 January 2024, and three
hearings took place on 27 February, 11 March, and 8 April 2024. "At the age
of 87, it was difficult for Archbishop Viktor to be at the hearing because
of his poor state of health", the church noted in its account of the first
hearing, posted on its website on 27 February. "The atmosphere at the trial
was difficult. Archbishop Viktor fundamentally refuses the protection of
any lawyers, placing all his hope in God".
In court, Archbishop Viktor pleaded not guilty and refused to testify. The
written verdict summarises statements he gave during questioning in
December 2023, noting that he "considers the Ukrainian nation to be kin and
the Russian nation to have inherited the Christian Orthodox faith precisely
from them". He believes that the Russian government has "no right" to
declare Ukrainians to be enemies or to have invaded Ukraine, and does not
recognise the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia
Regions, saying that "this decision was imposed and these territories were
taken by force by the Russian Federation from the state of Ukraine". The
"special military operation" is, for Archbishop Viktor, "lawless and
aggressive" and a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.
Judge Rodionov concluded that the Archbishop's aim in his "public actions"
– the 12 October 2023 blog post, the Novaya Gazeta Europe interview, and
his sermons and articles – had been "to undermine in the eyes of others
the dignity and authority of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation".
In deciding to impose a fine, the judge took into account "the nature of
the offence committed and its level of public danger, the character of the
defendant, [and] the influence of the punishment on his correction", and
noted Archbishop Viktor's "advanced age" as a mitigating factor (with no
aggravating factors).
Parishioners "scared away by recent events"
After the raid on their church in Slavyansk-na-Kubani in October 2023, the
parish community of the Holy Intercession Tikhonite Church became concerned
that investigative agencies were monitoring its activities.
"Officers come to every service, openly film everything and all the
parishioners; others, under the guise of random people or parishioners,
also holding their phones, ask intrusive questions", the church member
outside Russia told Forum 18 in January
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
method of intimidation." Now, they say, it is hard to tell if surveillance
is still in place.
Sunday services are continuing to take place, but "of course not as
normal", the church member told Forum 18 on 12 April. "Many people have
been scared away by recent events."
"Most close parishioners know quite well the history of the Russian Church,
as well as the True Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad,
and such persecutions are not news, but knowing history and finding
yourself in the middle of such history are two different things", the
church member commented to Forum 18 in January
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
In January, shortly after investigators initiated the criminal case against
Archbishop Viktor, the parish was concerned that there could also be a
threat to the church itself. This remains unclear: "For now, everything is
uncertain, because as you understand, this does not depend on us", the
church member outside Russia explained to Forum 18 on 8 April.
Forum 18 has repeatedly asked
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Investigative Committee and the Krasnodar Region branches of the FSB
security service and Interior Ministry why investigators had placed the
church under surveillance, why they were threatening members of the
community with prosecution, and whether any further administrative or
criminal cases had been opened against anybody other than Archbishop
Viktor. Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the working day in
Krasnodar Region of 15 April.
2023 armed raid on church
On 3 October 2023, 10 unidentified armed men raided Archbishop Viktor's
Holy Intercession Tikhonite Church
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Slavyansk-na-Kubani. As well as searching the church's premises and seizing
electronic devices, documents, and money, the men physically assaulted,
tortured, and detained 32-year-old Hieromonk Iona Sigida, the Archbishop's
assistant.
From the court verdict in the later criminal case against Archbishop
Viktor, it appears that the Investigative Committee's Slavyansk
Investigation Department directed the raid. In their account of the raid on
the church website, Fr Iona and Archbishop Viktor describe the armed men as
belonging to "SOBR" (Spetsialny Otryad Bystrogo Reagirovaniya), the Special
Rapid Response Unit which has been part of the National Guard (Rosgvardiya)
since 2016 and which frequently provides armed support for Investigative
Committee operations.
Fr Iona was later charged with "disobeying a police officer"
(Administrative Code Article 19.3, Part 1), for which he was given two
days' short-term imprisonment (administrativny arest). He was also charged
under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian
Federation"), Part 1, for his article "The cult of war", which he had
published on the church's website on 28 September 2023.
The men told Archbishop Viktor that he would face criminal prosecution for
repeat "discreditation" of the Armed Forces, but did not assault or detain
him.
On 20 November 2023, Slavyansk City Court fined Fr Iona 30,000 Roubles
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
average local wage) under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3. He was not
present in court and does not appear to have appealed.
Forum 18 has repeatedly sent enquiries
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Region branches of the FSB security service, Interior Ministry, and
Investigative Committee and the Federal Investigative Committee, as well as
to the National Guard (to which Fr Iona believed the armed men belonged),
asking:
- why armed force had been considered necessary in the raid on the church;
- and whether the officers Fr Iona says tortured him had been suspended
from duty and placed under investigation pending criminal charges for
torture, in line with Russia's obligations under the United Nations (UN)
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (https://www.forum18.org/archi
not, why not.
Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the working day in Krasnodar
Region of 15 April.
Fr Iona is currently "in hiding", a church member told Forum 18 on 4
January (https://www.forum18.org/archi
investigators "are trying very persistently to find him under the pretext
of [having] a 'conversation'".
Fr Iona is not believed to be on the Interior Ministry's federal wanted
list.
Two imprisoned, three fined for opposing Russia's war in Ukraine on
religious grounds
As well as many convictions for Administrative Code offences
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
now convicted five people on Criminal Code charges for opposing Russia's
renewed invasion of Ukraine on religious grounds. In addition to Archbishop
Viktor Pivovarov, these convictions are as follows:
– on 17 October 2022, Verkhoturye District Court (Sverdlovsk Region)
fined Fr Nikandr Igoryevich Pinchuk
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia [ROCOR] not in communion with the
Moscow Patriarchate) 100,000 Roubles under Criminal Code Article 280.3,
Part 1 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
VKontakte. In the posts, he accused the Russian army of shelling Ukrainian
cities, called it the "horde of the Antichrist", and praised the
"perseverance" of the defenders of "the city of Mary, Mariupol";
– on 30 March 2023, Timiryazevsky District Court in Moscow handed
63-year-old Mikhail Yuryevich Simonov a 7-year prison sentence
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Article 207.3 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
("Public dissemination, under the guise of credible statements, of
knowingly false information on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian
Federation"), Part 2 for two online comments about the war: "Killing
children and women, on Channel One [television] we sing songs. We, Russia,
have become godless [bezbozhniki]. Forgive us, Lord!," and "Russian pilots
are bombing children". His appeal was rejected on 25 July 2023. On 17
January 2024, a cassational appeal court reduced Simonov's prison term by
six months – in a letter to supporters posted on the Politzek-Info
Telegram channel on 31 March, Simonov noted that his release date is now 2
January 2029. His prison address is:
601122 Vladimirskaya oblast
Petushinsky rayon
g. Pokrov
ul. Frantsa Shtolverka 6
FKU Ispravitelnaya koloniya - 2 UFSIN Rossii po Vladimirskoy oblasti;
– on 7 August 2023, Soviet District Court in Tomsk fined Anna Sergeyevna
Chagina (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Roubles under Criminal Code Article 280.3, Part 1
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
posts on VKontakte after first being convicted for displaying a poster
reading "Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)" at an anti-war protest.
She appealed unsuccessfully at Tomsk Regional Court on 26 October 2023;
– on 31 August 2023, Kalinin District Court in St Petersburg sentenced Fr
Ioann Valeryevich Kurmoyarov
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
of ROCOR as Fr Nikandr) to 3 years' imprisonment under Criminal Code
Article 207.3 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
2, Paragraphs G and D for posting videos condemning the war on his YouTube
channel. He appealed unsuccessfully at St Petersburg City Court on 15
February 2024, and in mid-March was moved out of his detention centre.
According to the Free Ioann Kurmoyarov Telegram channel, his prison address
is now believed to be:
196641 g. Sankt-Peterburg
pos. Metallostroy
ul. Severny proyezd, 1
Ispravitelnaya koloniya No. 5 UFSIN po g. Sankt-Peterburgu i Leningradskoy
oblasti
Investigators have also opened three criminal cases against people who have
left Russia:
– Nina Aleksandrovna Belyayeva
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Communist municipal deputy from Voronezh (Criminal Code Article 207.3
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russia in April 2022, shortly after the meeting of Semiluk District Council
in which she denounced the invasion of Ukraine as a war crime, stating that
"murdering other people" and invading "the territory of another state,
which has nothing to do with the goal of self-defence of one's own state"
have "nothing in common with Christian beliefs.";
– Fr Aleksandr Nikolayevich Dombrovsky
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Patriarchate priest from Bryansk Region, who preached against the renewed
invasion of Ukraine, for which he was punished by his Diocese. After being
questioned by local police based on information provided by an informer,
the police told him that the FSB security service had opened a case against
him under an unknown Criminal Code article;
– Yury Kirillovich Sipko
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
former head of the Russian Baptist Union (under investigation under
Criminal Code Article 207.3
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
D), whose home in Moscow the Investigative Committee raided on 8 August
2023; they could not arrest him as he had already left the country, and
they have now had him placed on the Interior Ministry's wanted list.
(END)
For background information see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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