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Religious scholar "arrested" in militant-controlled Donetsk

31.01.2016, 12:06
Religious scholar "arrested" in militant-controlled Donetsk - фото 1
Ihor Kozlovsky, President of the Centre for Religious Studies and International Spiritual Relations, is well-known in Donetsk.

Kremlin-backed militants in Donetsk are reported to have seized a number of local residents, including a volunteer Marina Cherenkova and religious specialist Ihor Kozlovsky and are holding them prisoner.  The news coincides with an orchestrated demonstration in Donetsk against the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and what were termed “other sects” deemed to be Western-funded and supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Halya Coynash reports on Human rights in Ukraine web-page.

Ihor Kozlovsky, President of the Centre for Religious Studies and International Spiritual Relations, is well-known in Donetsk.  He had remained in the city to care for his son who is paralyzed. Relatives and friends report that the militants burst into his flat and took Kozlovsky away, without giving any explanation.  They left his son without any care, and relatives were only allowed access to him the following day.  The militants also removed computer equipment, documents and a collection of antiques.

Kozlovsky has now been held, probably in a basement, for the last 3 days.  IV Vlada links his ‘arrest’ with the attempt to blow up the monument to Lenin in Donetsk a few days earlier.  According to a well-known Donetsk blogger, “the Russian occupation administration has activated its repressive measures since New Year, making them more large-scale”.  Those suspected of pro-Ukrainian views are classified as ‘spies’ and ‘terrorists’ which, according to what the ‘DNR’ refers to as its laws, can result in 30-year sentences or the death penalty.

In the report ‘When God becomes the weapon’ published in May 2015, rights activists detailed widespread and systematic persecution of all religious groups except those linked with the Moscow Patriarchate in militant-controlled parts of Donbas.  It also pointed to the role of Russia and its armed criminal ‘crusaders’ in mounting crimes against humanity in the region.  They identified widespread religious persecution from April 2014, and noted the major role played by unlawful armed groups who “under the banners of the Russian Orthodox Army and the Cossack Army, openly manifest their adherence to orthodoxy and have begun a ‘crusade’ across the Donbas region’.

While conflicts have arisen between differing armed formations, especially in ‘LNR’, this adherence to a specific form of Orthodoxy and political ideas around this is largely shared by all pro-Russian militants. 

According to the ‘DNR’ ‘constitution’, issued on May 16, 2014 “the leading and dominant faith is the Orthodox faith ... as professed by the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). The historical heritage and role of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) are recognized and respected, including as a main pillar of the Russian World doctrine ".