In Almaty, Yakov (Vladimir) Vorontsov, a defrocked Ortodoxal hieromonk who was arrested on the eve of the hearing of his lawsuit against the city’s Department of Justice, has been convicted.
The judge of the criminal court for the Medeu district of Almaty, Zhasulan Khusainov, found Vorontsov, who defied the Moscow Patriarchate, guilty of “illegal acquisition and possession of drugs without the purpose of sale” and sentenced him to six years in prison, as requested by the prosecutor, reducing the term in honor of the amnesty and taking into account the 9 months spent in the pre-trial detention center. The disgraced clergyman must serve his sentence in a medium-security institution. In addition to his prison sentence, Father Yakov was ordered to pay a fine of 86,500 tenge (about $200) and 39,500 tenge (about $88) in court costs.
The “substance” found during the search amounted to 2.44 grams. The search took place the night before the first court hearing on the refusal to register Vorontsov’s religious association, which was supposed to become an alternative Orthodox Church to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Despite the extremely small quantity, officers say they found the substance in the house where Jacob had lived for several years with his mother, his sister and her daughter. His family categorically denies any such suspicions.
However, such coincidences were not believed in the United States. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) did not believe that Voronstov had “succumbed to temptation” and included him in the international database of people persecuted for their faith. In Europe, Vorontsov is also recognized as a prisoner of conscience.
Yesterday’s trial was held in an accelerated mode. A few hours after the debate, the verdict was announced after the end of the working day. As those present noted, the evening verdict accidentally coincided with Putin’s birthday.
The trial itself, like a number of similar ones, was held behind closed doors, supposedly to “ensure the safety” of protected witnesses. The operative part of the verdict was read out in a small room. Spectators were told there was no room large enough to accommodate them, and were then… sent to a spacious courtroom, where they could only follow the reading on a monitor.
Yakov Vorontsov was detained on February 13 this year. Initially, he was placed under administrative arrest on charges of using a narcotic substance. Then the case was transferred to the criminal plane, imputing to him, in addition to storage, the maintenance of a drug den. Subsequently, the latter charge was dropped. During his stay in the pre-trial detention center, the authorities tried to place Vorontsov in a psychiatric clinic, but medical specialists did not find any grounds for this.
For his statements against the policy of the Russian Orthodox Church regarding the war in Ukraine, he was stripped of his position in an Orthodox church in Almaty, defrocked and tried to prosecute him for “inciting hatred.” In Kazakhstan, he was also investigated for inciting hatred, but later the proceedings were terminated due to the lack of corpus delicti.
At all stages of the process, the hieromonk did not admit his guilt, and in mid-September, after the trial in his case was declared closed, he began a protest hunger strike.
The defense intends to appeal the verdict.
