Romanyuk, the senior pastor of the Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church in the Moscow Region, is the first religious leader to face charges under laws designed to suppress dissent against the government during the ongoing war, according to the Norway-based human rights organization Forum 18.

Currently detained at Investigation Prison No. 11 in Noginsk, approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow, Pastor Romanyuk was arrested following early-morning armed raids on his home and the residences of several church members on October 18. Two days later, a court ordered his detention for two months.

The charges stem from a September 2022 sermon in which Romanyuk, citing Biblical teachings, urged believers not to participate in the war. The sermon was live-streamed and later uploaded to the church’s YouTube channel, prompting authorities to invoke Criminal Code Article 280.4, Part 2, Paragraph V, which penalizes public appeals against Russian state security made via mass media or the internet.

Source: christianpost.com