Political prisoner priest persecuted for peacemaking
In the summer of 2020, following his criticism of the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, the Metropolitan suspended Kurmoyarov from serving for two months "due to non-compliance with the status of a cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church." The priest was also dismissed from his position as an associate professor in the Department of Church Theology at the Novosibirsk Seminary.
On April 1, 2022, by decision of the Novosibirsk Diocese and by decree of Patriarch Kirill, Father John was defrocked for his public stance against the war with Ukraine. Currently, Father John holds his clerical rank within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) under the omophorion of Metropolitan Agathangel. The residence of the head of this Church is located in Odesa.
On June 7, 2022, security forces searched the home of Ioann Kurmoyarov (Father John in monasticism), seizing equipment, two icons, a wooden cross, and a cassock. He was detained and charged under Paragraph "d", Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the investigative authorities, the case was initiated due to Kurmoyarov posting four videos on the "VKontakte" social network, in which Father John expressed his views regarding the war with Ukraine. Linguists who conducted an expert analysis of the videos concluded that Kurmoyarov was "disseminating knowingly false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation."
In his videos dedicated to the war with Ukraine, the clergyman criticized Russia's aggression from the perspective of Christian doctrine. A snippet where Father John discusses the future fate of the aggressors became widely shared: "In paradise, we find 'blessed are the peacemakers'—peacemakers, do you see the problem? And those who unleashed the aggression will not be in paradise," the priest states in the video.
On June 8, 2022, Tatyana Alkhazova, a judge at the Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg, ordered Father John to be remanded in custody. The hearing took place without Kurmoyarov's defense attorney, Leonid Krikun, despite the fact that he had notified the investigation of his entry into the case earlier that morning. The investigator, conversely, had assured the lawyer that the court hearing would not take place until June 9.
Kurmoyarov noted that while he "might have seemed harsh to some in his remarks," they were "merely evaluative, based on the Gospel." He also emphasized that he is a "Christian pacifist" and that "the main commandment is 'thou shalt not kill'; there should be no war." The clergyman assured the court that he posed no threat to society and had no intention of fleeing. However, the court granted the prosecution's motion, remanding Kurmoyarov in custody until August 6, 2022. While in the pretrial detention center (SIZO), Father John faced pressure from representatives of the Investigative Committee and the FSB, who attempted to force him to incriminate himself.
The independent human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" (which continues the work of the dedicated program of the state-liquidated Human Rights Center "Memorial"), in accordance with international guidelines defining the term "political prisoner," considers the criminal case against Ioann Kurmoyarov (Father John) to be politically motivated. It is aimed at the involuntary termination or alteration of his public activities and is carried out solely because of his non-violent activities directed toward defending human rights and his beliefs, in connection with the non-violent exercise of his freedom of expression and information.
During his time in the SIZO, church media continued to exert pressure on the priest, with Orthodox TV channels broadcasting segments defamatory to his honor and dignity.
On August 31, 2023, Father John was convicted by the Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg and sentenced to three years in a general-regime penal colony under Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the RF. By its ruling, the court also banned Father John from any public activity on the internet for a period of two years. The court ordered his time in the SIZO to be counted at a rate of one day for one and a half. On August 1, 2024, Father John was released from the IK-5 "Metallstroy" penal colony.
Currently, the priest remains banned from public activity and is under administrative supervision. He is barred from openly preaching, teaching theological disciplines (effectively preventing him from working in his profession), and publishing. His criminal record leaves him only with the possibility of earning a living through heavy manual labor, which is impossible due to his age and health condition. Furthermore, Father John is deprived of the opportunity to serve as an Orthodox clergyman within the Russian Federation, as the criminal case alleges that, as a ROCOR clergyman, he could allegedly engage in destructive, extremist activities, fostering enmity and interreligious discord within the territory of the Russian Federation.
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