In the city of St. Petersburg (Russia), a lawyer says he has lost contact with a local priest, Ioan Kurmoyarov, who had been earlier arrested on charges of spreading “fake news” targeting the Russian army.
That’s according to Espreso TV.
On June 10, the lawyer came to visit his client at the Kresty-2 pre-trial detention center only to be told by the administration that he was not there anymore. The administration of another detention facility, the SIZO-6 “Gorelove,” also said that the priest was not held there. Further search yielded no results either, the lawyer says.
Earlier, investigator leading the priest’s case told his lawyer that “despite all his efforts, Father Ioan does not want to plead guilty,” and asked the lawyer to “work” with him, promising to take into account the “mitigating circumstances” if any.
The court hearing where the measure of restraint was selected was held without the lawyer’s presence.
The reason for Kurmoyarov’s criminal prosecution was a video he had recently posted on YouTube, in which he condemned Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“You will not be in any paradise. You will be in hell, that’s all. You have chosen this hell yourself,” Ioan Kurmoyarov said, addressing the occupiers.
