Human rights activists have no information about the fate of the 20 Ukrainian priests who have been abducted by the Russians since the full-scale invasion. The invaders also murdered five priests.
The director of the Kharkiv human rights group, Yevhen Zakharov, said this at the press conference on Russian war crimes against religious communities and clerics, reports the Center for Civil Liberties.
Since the full-scale invasion, terror against the clergy, believers, and religious centers in the territories occupied by Russia has intensified significantly. According to the Tribunal for Putin civic initiative, 50 crimes against leaders of religious communities were singled out. Among them are murders, abductions, and torture.
“In two cases, priests were killed intentionally, in five cases priests were killed as a result of bombings, and in eight cases they were injured as a result of such attacks. Twenty priests were abducted and their whereabouts are largely unknown. Five priests were abducted and later released, and all of them, after moving to Ukrainian government-controlled territory or after de-occupation, said they were subjected to severe torture. One priest was deported, expelled from his hometown, and his further fate is unknown,” said the rights defender.
He also spoke about cases where the invaders would chase priests and parishioners out of their church and used the building for their own purposes. In addition, there are known cases where the Russians would loot the church and adjacent before deploying their artillery there.
According to Zakharov, among the abducted religious figures are mainly priests from the OCU, UGCC, as well as leaders of various Protestant churches.
