Crimean Archbishop of the UOC-KP asks Patriarch Kirill and leader of Russian Muslims to help to free political prisoners
Archbishop Klyment (Kushch) of Simferopol and Crimea sent a letter to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, and Russian Supreme Mufti Sheikh-ul-Islam referring to the application of penal system to the Mejlis deputy head Ilmi Umerov. The text was published on his Facebook page according to the Mejlis leader Refat Chubarov. "I was urged to turn to you, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the spiritual leader of Muslims, by flagrant abuse of the penal system in the twentieth century towards man which is God's creation,” Archbishop Klyment said in his letter. He stresses that he does not want to teach them the Scripture and the Qur'an in which Almighty laid the foundation of the universe: love, compassion and forgiveness, but wants to pay attention to what is happening today in the Crimea. “August 24, 2016 when human patience was exhausted. I was shocked by what I saw in a psychiatric hospital in Simferopol. All norms of morality were violated in relation to Ilmi Umerov. Forgiveness and mercy have no meaning anymore,” Klyment said.
He called: "If you have the fear of God in your heart, if everything you say from the pulpit are not empty words, do everything to free Umerov, Sentsov, Kolchenko, Kostenko, Cherniy, Chyyhoza and other innocent citizens of Ukraine detained for their beliefs.”
