Hieromonk from Verkhoturye, Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Pinchuk, was prosecuted under an article about “fakes” about the Russian army, Baza reports . The publication writes that Pinchuk published posts on his Vkontakte, where he wrote that the Russian leadership was violating divine commandments.
According to Baza, the post in which Pinchuk (also known as Hieromonk Nikandr) called the actions of the Russian army predatory has already been deleted, as has Pinchuk's Vkontakte account. The publication adds that the case was initiated under article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: according to it, the hieromonk is threatened with imprisonment for six months.
On June 8, it became known that in St. Petersburg, a criminal case was opened against the former hieromonk of the Russian Orthodox Church and Doctor of Theology John Kurmoyarov for “fake news” about the Russian army. The case was opened because of Kurmoyarov’s video “Who will be in hell and who will be in heaven?”, Published in March. In it, the priest talks about the war in Ukraine and talks about the fact that the Russian military will go to hell:
“In paradise are ‘blessed are the peacemakers’. "Peacekeepers", do you understand what the problem is? And those who unleashed aggression will not be in paradise.”
The video was seen by the police, it was sent for a linguistic examination. She showed that "the author of the video expresses deliberately false information about the RF Armed Forces," writes Baza. On July 7, the security forces detained Kurmoyarov and searched his place. Equipment, two icons, a wooden cross and a cassock were confiscated from the former priest. According to part 2 of Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
On March 4, Vladimir Putin signed a decree amending the Criminal Code, according to which the spread of "fakes" about the actions of the Russian army is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.