One of the two Greek Catholic priests captured by Russian Guard in the occupied Ukrainian city of Berdiansk in November 2022 was apparently illegally removed to Russia.
That’s according to RISU.
Yevhen Zakharov with the Kharkiv Human Rights Group reports that Father Ivan Levytskyi is being held in a pre-trial detention center in Russia’s Rostov region. Father Bohdan Heleta is in the pretrial detention center in Simferopol in occupied Crimea.
The Donetsk Exarchate of the UGCC says they can only confirm that two priests are in Russian captivity. “The exact location is unknown – there have been various reports but none have been verified,” the exarchate told Forum 18. “Priests are constantly put on swap lists, but so far to no avail.”
Both priests are under investigation on criminal charges related to weapons and explosives that Russian occupation forces claim they found in November 2022 at Berdyansk Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where Fr. Ivan and Fr. Bohdan served. These claims were also circulated by Russian-occupation media platforms along with statements about the discovery of allegedly “extremist” literature in the church.
Among the allegedly “extremist” texts was a collection of sermons by Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytskyi, who headed the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church until his death in 1944. During World War II, Metropolitan Sheptytskyi protected Jews from the Holocaust by providing false IDs and sheltering them from the Nazis at a time when such acts were punishable by death. He also publicly condemned the Holocaust, including writing directly to the Nazi leadership.
Relatives, friends, and the Donetsk Exarchate of the UGCC, to which Fr. Ivan and Fr. Bohdan belong, have not been able to contact them since the Russian occupation forces arrested them.
Administration of detention centers No. 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the Rostov Region replied to an enquiry from Forum 18 that they are not holding Father Ivan. Officials at another detention center in the Rostov region and two detention centers in Simferopol, Crimea, declined to say whether they were holding any of the two clerics.
The court of the Simferopol district, where two pretrial detention centers are located, told Forum 18 that it did not consider any motions. Investigators need court orders to put people in remand. Investigators can submit them not only to the court where the person is detained, but also to the court where the investigator is based.
Officials refused to inform Forum 18 on the charges pressed against the priests or the agency responsible for the investigation.
The UGCC First Hierarch, Sviatoslav, called for the release of Fr. Ivan and Fr. Bohdan: “We demand the release, search and freedom of our courageous Redemptorist fathers who are in Russian captivity.”
