Source: www.forum18.org
Date: May 10, 2024
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
A Protestant in her early fifties has been under arrest by Russian
occupation forces since early 2024, and may already be facing criminal
trial at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Regional Court in occupied
Ukraine. She is being prosecuted for remarks she allegedly made at a prayer
meeting in a home in the occupied city of Melitopol in July 2023.
With information from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the
occupation forces' Investigative Committee launched a criminal case on
charges of giving "knowingly false information" about the Russian armed
forces. She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted (see below).
The Russian Zaporizhzhia Region Investigative Committee – which did not
name the woman –claimed that she was "the leader of a religious
organisation banned in Zaporizhzhia Region". However, Forum 18 understands
that the woman was an ordinary church member, not a leader (see below).
The occupation forces' Zaporizhzhia Region Investigative Committee refused
to say whether the FSB had secretly recorded the religious meeting at which
the woman is alleged to have made her remarks. An official told Forum 18
from Melitopol that the case had been handed to the Russian-controlled
Zaporizhzhia Regional Court and that all questions should be addressed to
the Court. The Court's telephone was not answered each time Forum 18 called
(see below).
Also, Russian prosecutors handed a criminal case against 41-year-old
Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) priest Fr Kostiantyn Maksimov to
Zaporizhzhia Regional Court, the Russian Prosecutor's Office announced on
29 March. Fr Kostiantyn is being tried under Article 276 ("Espionage") of
the Russian Criminal Code (see below).
The occupation forces' Zaporizhzhia Regional Court did not respond to Forum
18's questions as to whether Fr Kostiantyn was on trial and, if the case
had already concluded, what the verdict was. Several of the Court's judges
told Forum 18 that they were not involved in the case (see below).
Artyom Sharlay, the head of the Russian occupiers' Religious Organisations
Department at Zaporizhzhia Regional Administration's Social and Political
Communications and Information Policy Department, did not answer his phone
when Forum 18 called (see below).
On 27 April, the Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court in Luhansk Region
fined Pastor Vladimir Rytikov 5,000 Russian Roubles on charges of "illegal
missionary activity" for leading his unregistered Baptist congregation.
"This is half my [monthly] pension," he noted. More than 30 church members
came to the court to support their pastor. Pastor Rytikov has lodged an
appeal to the Russian-controlled Luhansk Supreme Court, local Baptists told
Forum 18 (see below).
The head of the Russian Krasnodon police, Colonel Sergei Krupa – who had
signed the order to hand the case to court - refused to explain why police
had brought the prosecution against Pastor Rytikov for a meeting of his
church in a home (see below).
On 19 April, the Russian FSB in the occupied Luhansk Region claimed to have
arrested more than one Jehovah's Witness. The FSB said a criminal case has
been opened against them on charges of "public calls for the carrying out
of extremist activity". Jehovah's Witnesses described the report to Forum
18 as "false". Russian occupation authorities often make claims about their
actions against individuals and communities which cannot be verified (see
below).
The Russian Orthodox diocese of Skadovsk – which the Moscow Patriarchate
unilaterally established in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Region in
December 2023 – has taken over a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in the
village of Oleksandrivka. On 28 April, it was consecrated as a Russian
Orthodox church. The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church,
Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, called the seizure and reconsecration of
the church "sacrilege" (see below).
In late 2022, the Russian occupation forces in Zaporizhzhia Region
pressured at least one priest to abandon the Greek Catholic Church and join
the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate. He refused. "He was
offered either to transfer to the Moscow Patriarchate and stay, or to
leave. He decided to leave," fellow Greek Catholic priest Fr Oleksandr
Bogomaz recalled. He too was forced to leave Russian-occupied territory
(see below).
Russian occupation authorities have also repeatedly tried to pressure
priests of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church linked to the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC) to join new dioceses the
Moscow Patriarchate Russian Orthodox Church has unilaterally established on
occupied Ukrainian territory. Both OCU and UOC clergy have been disappeared
and tortured after they have refused. Muslim clergy and mosques have also
been pressured and tortured if they refuse to join Russian-controlled
Islamic structures (see below).
In spring 2024, border officials at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport denied
entry to a Ukrainian religious leader who had left soon after the Russian
invasion in February 2022 and was intending to return to Russian-occupied
Ukraine to visit the remaining community. "Border officials quoted to me
the article which says that the Russian Federation has the right not to
allow in other citizens if they are a threat to national security and the
territorial integrity of the country," the religious leader told Forum 18
(see below).
Illegal imposition of Russian law
It is illegal under international law for Russia to enforce its own laws on
occupied Ukrainian territory, as Russia is required to leave Ukrainian law
in force
(https://ihl-databases.icrc.or
The Russian-occupied or partially-occupied regions of Ukraine – including
Zaporizhzhia which Russia illegally claimed to have annexed
(https://news.un.org/en/story/
punishments under Russia's Criminal and Administrative Codes in late 2022
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russia controls.
Melitopol: Protestant woman faces trial for prayer meeting participation
A group of Protestants met for prayer on Sunday 23 July 2023 in a home in
the city of Melitopol in the part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Region occupied
by Russian forces. One of those present was a woman aged about 50. "Acting
on motives of political hatred, she gave false information about the
activity of the Russian armed forces," the Russian Zaporizhzhia Region
Investigative Committee claimed on 12 February 2024.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) continued to be involved in the
case, and handed information about the July 2023 prayer meeting to
occupation force prosecutors and the occupiers' Investigative Committee.
A criminal case was launched against the woman under Russian Criminal Code
Article 207.3 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
2, Point D. This punishes "Public dissemination, under the guise of
credible statements, of knowingly false information about the use of the
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" when conducted "for reasons of
political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or
for reasons of hatred or enmity against any social group". Punishments
range from a large fine to up to 10 years' imprisonment.
The occupiers' Investigative Committee – which did not name the woman -
claimed she was "the leader of a religious organisation banned in
Zaporizhzhia Region". However, Forum 18 understands that the woman was an
ordinary church member, not a leader.
Occupation forces repeatedly forcibly close Ukrainian religious communities
Russian occupation forces have repeatedly forcibly closed religious
communities (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.
Among other examples, Russian-imposed Governor Yevgeny Balitsky banned four
religious communities (https://www.forum18.org/archi
in Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Region in December 2022: the
Greek Catholic Church, Grace Protestant Church, Melitopol Christian Church,
and Word of Life Protestant Church. (The buildings of Grace, Melitopol
Christian, and Word of Life churches had been seized in September 2022
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Balitsky accused these Churches of links with foreign "special services"
and ordered all their property seized.
A February 2024 meeting of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Regional
Administration, chaired by Russian-imposed Governor Balitsky, praised the
"halting of the work of religious sects which had taken part in organising
mass disorder and anti-Russian activity", the governor's website noted on
26 February (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russian occupation officials treat all Ukrainian religious communities
which have not received Russian state registration as illegal
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Melitopol: Case handed to court
The Russian Zaporizhzhia Region Investigative Committee announced on 11
March that its First Department for Investigating Especially Important
Cases had completed its investigation of the criminal case against the
Protestant woman from Melitopol. It said the case against her has been
handed to court, without identifying which court.
"In the course of the investigation the accused woman actively cooperated
with the investigation and fully recognised her guilt in committing the
crime," the Russian Zaporizhzhia Region Investigative Committee claimed.
"At the request of the investigator", it added, the court ordered the woman
held in pre-trial detention.
The court appears to have ordered the woman's detention sometime between
the 12 February and 11 March Investigative Committee announcements. It did
not say where she was being held, nor when her trial began or is due to
begin.
The Russian duty officer at the occupiers' Zaporizhzhia Region
Investigative Committee refused to say whether Russia's FSB had secretly
recorded the religious meeting at which the woman is alleged to have made
her remarks. He told Forum 18 from Melitopol on 8 May that the case had
been handed to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Regional Court and that
all questions should be addressed to the court.
Telephones at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Regional Court were not
answered each time Forum 18 called on 8 May. (9 and 10 May are Russian
public holidays.)
Orthodox priest also on trial at Zaporizhzhia Regional Court?
Prosecutors handed a criminal case against Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)
priest Fr Kostiantyn Maksimov (born 16 March 1983) to Zaporizhzhia Regional
Court in the occupied city of Melitopol, the Russian Prosecutor's Office
announced on 29 March. Fr Kostiantyn is being tried under Article 276
("Espionage") of the Russian Criminal Code.
Forum 18 wrote to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Regional Court on the
afternoon of 8 May asking whether Fr Kostiantyn was on trial and, if the
case had already concluded, what the verdict was. Forum 18 received no
immediate reply. (9 and 10 May are Russian public holidays.)
Vladimir Polukhin, the Russian-installed head of the court, did not respond
to Forum 18's message about the trial of Fr Kostiantyn sent to his personal
email address on 8 April
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Two Judges at the court, Nikita Vdovin and Roman Doroshenko, told Forum 18
separately on 8 May that they were not the judge in Fr Kostiantyn's case.
Asked the same day if he was the Judge in the case, Yevgeny Zadkov
responded: "Get lost."
An official of the Russian Regional Prosecutor's Office – who did not
give his name – told Forum 18 on 8 May that he had no information on
whether the trial of Fr Kostiantyn had begun.
Fr Kostiantyn served as priest of the UOC's Church of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Tokmak in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Region.
Russian occupation forces detained him in the southern town of Chongar
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
cross the administrative boundary with the occupied Ukrainian territory of
Crimea in May 2023.
Fr Kostiantyn's whereabouts have been uncertain since occupation forces
seized him. Yelena Shapovalova, the head of the Bar Association in the
Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Region, told Forum 18 from Melitopol
on 8 April (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Kostiantyn had been held at the temporary holding centre in Melitopol while
the pre-trial investigation was underway. She declined to say where he was
after that.
Artyom Sharlay, the head of the Russian occupiers' Religious Organisations
Department at Zaporizhzhia Regional Administration's Social and Political
Communications and Information Policy Department, claimed to Forum 18 in
October 2023 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Kostiantyn had not wanted the Berdyansk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church (UOC) to move to be an integral part of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Russian Orthodox Church took over the Diocese in May 2023.
Sharlay did not answer his phone on 8 May 2024.
Luhansk Baptist pastor fined for illegal "missionary" activity
On 28 January, armed men raided the Sunday morning worship service
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Churches Baptist congregation in Krasnodon [official Ukrainian name
Sorokyne] in the Russian-occupied Luhansk Region, just a few kilometres
from the eastern border with Russia. Officials took two elders out of the
service for questioning, and filmed and took passport details of all those
present.
The congregation – like other Council of Baptist churches – does not
seek permission from the authorities to meet. Its place of worship is in a
private home. The church's Pastor, Vladimir Rytikov, and the Krasnodon
Baptist congregation have faced repeated pressure from Russian occupation
forces in recent years, including raids, fines and a threat of criminal
prosecution.
The armed men then released the two elders and allowed the meeting for
worship to finish. They then took the home owner in a police car to the
police station. All were allowed to go later in the day. Officials later
told church members to bring documents on ownership of the home on 30
January.
On 2 February, police came to Pastor Rytikov's home. They asked if he led
the church and why it functions without registration. They also asked to
see the church's statute. "I told them that our statute is the Gospel,"
Pastor Rytikov noted on 7 February
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
that the church does not wish to seek registration. He refused to answer
questions about other church members, insisting that he could speak only
for himself.
On 25 March, police in Krasnodon telephoned Pastor Rytikov to summon him to
the police station. "They said this was to draw up a record of an offence
to be handed to court," Baptist Telegram channels quoted Pastor Rytikov as
declaring. "They said that the church is banned in Luhansk." He added that
when they asked if he was going to go to the police station, he told them
he would not.
On 29 March, Russian-controlled Krasnodon Police officer Sergei Vakhny
prepared the record of an offence against Pastor Rytikov
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
The record of an offence notes that he was found leading a religious
meeting at 12 noon on 28 January. Police illegally accuse him of violating
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
missionary activity"), which carries a punishment for individuals of 5,000
to 50,000 Russian Roubles.
"Rytikov was informed in the proper manner but did not appear for the
drawing up of the record of an administrative offence," Vakhny noted. He
noted that Rytikov is not on the wanted list and has no current convictions
in the Russian Interior Ministry's integrated database.
Also on 29 March, the head of the Russian Krasnodon police, Colonel Sergei
Krupa, signed the order
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
hand the case to Krasnodon Town Court.
Occupation police Colonel Krupa refused to explain why police had brought
the prosecution against Pastor Rytikov for a meeting of his church in a
home. "I won't give any comments by phone," he told Forum 18 on 5 April
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
phone down.
On the morning of 27 April, Judge Tatyana Bagayeva of Krasnodon Town Court
found Pastor Rytikov guilty. She fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles. "This is
half my [monthly] pension," Pastor Rytikov noted the same day. More than 30
church members came to the court to support their pastor, greeting him with
flowers.
Pastor Rytikov received the written decision on 2 May and lodged an appeal
to Luhansk Supreme Court, local Baptists told Forum 18 on 6 May.
Krasnodon's Council of Churches Baptist congregation has met in the same
location since 1961, and has come under repeated pressure
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
occupation began in 2014. The Church has been led for some years by Pastor
Rytikov, who is a former prisoner of conscience
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
authorities from 1979 to 1982 to punish his involvement in a Christian
children's summer camp.
FSB claims to have arrested Jehovah's Witnesses
On 19 April, Russia's Federal Security (FSB) in the occupied Luhansk Region
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
arrested more than one Jehovah's Witness, Russian news agency Tass cited
FSB officials as declaring. It said a criminal case has been opened against
them on charges of "public calls for the carrying out of extremist
activity".
Russian Criminal Code Article 280
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
calls for extremist activity" with a maximum punishment of 5 years'
imprisonment.
The Luhansk Region FSB said the members of the "cell" had "held monetary
collections for the funds of the sect and prepared and distributed leaflets
of extremist content".
After the Russian occupation of Luhansk Region began in 2014, in May 2021
Jehovah's Witness and Protestant texts (including a translation of the
Gospel of John) were added to a State List of Extremist Materials
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
"We are happy to inform you that this [FSB] information from Luhansk is
false," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 on 9 May.
Russian occupation authorities often make claims about their actions
against individuals and communities which cannot be verified.
Russian Orthodox seize Greek Catholic church
The Russian Orthodox diocese of Skadovsk – which the Moscow Patriarchate
unilaterally established in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Region in
December 2023 – has taken over a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in the
village of Oleksandrivka.
On 28 April, the dean of Skadovsk District Archpriest Nikolai Kanyuka
conducted the consecration of the church as a Russian Orthodox church.
"Previously, the church .. was Greek Catholic," the diocese noted on its
website the following day. "By decision of the local community and after an
appeal to the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the parish,
together with the building, came under the jurisdiction of the Moscow
Patriarchate."
In a sermon on 2 May, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church,
Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, called the seizure and reconsecration of
the church "sacrilege", pointing out that it took place as both Churches
were marking Holy Week.
Archbishop Shevchuk also mentioned the two imprisoned Greek Catholic
priests, Fr Ivan Levytsky and Fr Bohdan Heleta from Berdyansk, who have
been in Russian captivity since November 2022
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
in Christ and with Christ. They are now truly following Christ to the
cross. Today we are asking, praying and working - doing everything possible
to release them."
Fr Ivan and Fr Bohdan appear to be facing criminal trial
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
related to weapons, explosives, and allegedly "extremist" texts the Russian
occupation forces claim to have found in Berdyansk's Church of the Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
The Greek Catholic Donetsk Exarchate, to which Fr Ivan and Fr Bohdan
belong, told Forum 18 on 9 May that it has had no recent news of the
priests.
Occupiers pressured Greek Catholic priest to join Russian Orthodox
Russian occupation forces in Zaporizhzhia Region not only banned the Greek
Catholic Church in the occupied parts of the Region in December 2022 (see
above), they also drove out the five Greek Catholic priests who were
serving in the 10 or so parishes in and around Melitopol.
In November 2022, Russian occupation forces detained Fr Peter Krenický
(parish priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Assumption of Saint Anna
Church in Melitopol) and then forced him to leave. In December the
occupation forces then detained Fr Oleksandr Bogomaz, priest of the city's
Greek catholic Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church, and also forced him to
leave (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Occupation forces have also pressured at least one Greek Catholic priest to
join the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate. The married priest,
Fr Leonid Bizunov in the village of Orlove north of Melitopol, refused.
Fr Oleksandr told Iryna Fenno of the Religion in Fire project on 1 February
2024
(https://www.mar.in.ua/en/i-ca
that "regarding me, there was a specific decision on deportation". However,
Fr Leonid "was offered either to transfer to the Moscow Patriarchate and
stay, or to leave. He decided to leave. So he and his wife left on 8
December [2022]."
Russian occupation authorities have also repeatedly tried to pressure
priests (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church linked
to the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC) to join new dioceses the Moscow
Patriarchate Russian Orthodox Church has unilaterally established on
occupied Ukrainian territory. Both OCU and UOC clergy have been disappeared
after they have refused.
Occupation officials have also pressured and tortured Muslim clergy and
pressured mosque communities
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
join Russian-controlled Islamic structures.
Religious leader denied entry to Russia to visit community in occupied
Ukrainian territory
In spring 2024, Russian border officials at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport
denied entry to a Ukrainian religious leader who was intending to return to
Russian-occupied Ukraine to visit the remaining community. (Since October
2023, Sheremetyevo Airport has been one of only two points where the
Russian authorities allow Ukrainian citizens to enter Russia from third
countries.)
The religious leader – a Ukrainian citizen - had left Russian-occupied
Ukrainian territory in early 2022, soon after the occupation began.
"Border officials quoted to me the article which says that the Russian
Federation has the right not to allow in other citizens if they are a
threat to national security and the territorial integrity of the country,"
the religious leader told Forum 18 on 7 May. The individual asked not to be
identified. (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Occupied
Ukraine (https://www.forum18.org/archi
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