COURT
FINES
SCHEHEGUMEN SERGIUS FOR DENYING CORONAVIRUS
A judge
of the
judicial district No. 3 of Verkhnaia Pyshma found Schehegumen
Sergius (Nikolai
Romanov) guilty of violation of part 9 of article 13.15 of the
Code of
Administrative Violations of Law ("Dissemination on the internet
of
socially significant information known to be unreliable in the
guise of
reliable communications, creating a threat of harm to life
and/or health of citizens,
if these actions of the person disseminating the information do
not contain a
criminally punishable act") for denying the coronavirus. As a
correspondent of Znak.com reports, the court fined him 90,000
rubles. The
court's decision may be appealed.
Schehegumen
Sergius
did not appear in court; he was represented by attorney Svetlana
Gerasimova.
The position of the defense amounted to the fact that
Schehegumen Sergius
delivered a sermon in the Central Urals convent for novices and
residents. That
is, the text for which he was being tried was not aimed at the
masses at large.
Sergius, according to the attorney, did not participate in the
distribution of
the video, since he did not make it, did not post it on the
internet, and did
not even know that the video with his sermon was published on
YouTube.
The
attorney also
declared that now there is an attempt to "bring the priest to
justice for
performing his required duties as a representative of the RPTs
[Russian
Orthodox Church]," which, in her opinion, is a "transgression on
the
part of an official."
In
addition, the
attorney declared that law enforcement agencies conducted an
inquiry in
violation of proper procedures. In particular, she stated that
Schehegumen
Sergius, on 24 June, did not sign an affidavit regarding
familiarization with
the materials of the case, inasmuch as she has been engaged
since 8 June with
all the affairs of her client connected with the trial. The
attorney petitioned
for finding the evidence to be falsified, but the court refused
her request.
In
connection with
the enumerated circumstances, the attorney requested to end the
proceedings on
the case.
In
court, she also
read the schehegumen's testimony. "I denounced not people, but
evil, and I
called everybody to repentance (repentance is a change of
mind—attorney's
comment), and a change of relationship with God. If my words
upset somebody and
they do not agree, then that is their personal opinion. Why did
I speak? In
order to emphasize that people are eternal. A person is an
immortal soul. By
this I accent a thousand-year-old culture," Sergius said in his
appeal to
the court.
In turn,
the court
read a part of Sergius' testimony in the prosecutor's office,
which he gave on
30 April. In it the schehegumen declared that he does not
believe the
statistics regarding the coronavirus. "Doctors are being bribed
so that
they will give a diagnosis of 'coronavirus.' I, Sergius, never
called anybody
to rebellion and uprising," he said.
After
the court
session, attorney Svetlana Gerasimova stated that the defense
does not agree
with the verdict and will protest it. She said that a document
was found in the
case "supposedly signed by her client, but in fact it is not
clear by
whom." "The defense insisted upon removing this document as
inadmissible evidence, but this petition was denied," Gerasimova
declared.
She insists that in such a case the court has made an incorrect
decision, based
on dubious documentation.
Earlier,
a church
court unfrocked Schehegumen Sergius for the video on YouTube
with recordings of
sermons in which he spoke about the creation of "an electronic
concentration camp of Satan," cursed the leadership of the RPTs
for
closing churches during the pandemic, and spoke out against top
officials of
the state. The decision of the diocesan court has not taken
effect since
Patriarch Kirill has not signed it.
Immediately
after
this, supporters of the priest declared that they will not
desert him and will
not surrender the Central Urals convent, where he is holed up.
Yesterday
Metropolitan Kirill sent an open letter to Sergius in which he
accused Sergius
in effect of lying, vanity, and spreading schizophrenic
nonsense, and he denied
him the chance of maintaining his monastic status. (tr. by PDS,
posted 7 July
2020)
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