Orthodox priest Ioann Kurmoyarov was sentenced on Thursday (31) by the Court of Saint Petersburg to three years in prison in Russia for criticizing the war in Ukraine on his channel on a video platform.
The religious will serve his sentence in a penitentiary colony, according to a statement from the judicial body and, when he leaves, he will be prohibited from “expressing himself on the internet for two years”.
Amnesty International (AI), a human rights NGO, said the priest criticized what he considered “an aggression against humanity” and “called on Christians to condemn” the conflict.
This earned him the loss of religious leader status in April 2022 and his subsequent conviction that week. Russian justice accused him of “spreading false news”.
Since the start of the war against Ukraine, several Russian priests have spoken out against Vladimir Putin’s military campaign to annex Ukrainian territories. In addition to religious Christians, political opponents of the Kremlin have left the country due to persecution.
#Russian #priest #sentenced #years #prison #criticizing #war