The high-profile case of Hieromonk Iakov (Vorontsov) is clearly politically motivated and has been put together rather crudely, while the investigators’ conclusions do not appear convincing. The authorities in Kazakhstan have therefore had to resort to a last measure – closing the trial to the public.

Lera Furman, a columnist for Novaya Gazeta Europe, writes about this in an article.

As is known, the trial of Hieromonk Iakov Vorontsov, who has been accused of possessing narcotic substances, has begun in Almaty.

At the start of the hearing, the charge of operating a drug den was dropped against anti-war priest Iakov Vorontsov, who had called for the independence of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, while the trial itself was closed to the public and the press. Iakov has gone on hunger strike.

Hieromonk Iakov was placed under administrative arrest in Almaty on February 13. Three days earlier, a court was due to hear an administrative lawsuit filed by the priest, who was seeking registration of the Orthodox community he had established outside the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

At present, the Russian Orthodox Church effectively has a complete monopoly over Orthodox Christianity in the country, which the new community sought to break. Its founders, led by Fr. Iakov, fulfilled all requirements of Kazakhstani law governing the establishment and registration of religious organizations.

“After Fr. Iakov (Vorontsov) became the symbol and undisputed leader of the movement for an independent Kazakhstani Orthodox Church, any persecution of him looks politically motivated. The attempt to associate his name with suspicions of drug addiction is a cheap way to discredit a prominent figure,” Lera Furman writes.

As LF reported, the pretrial investigation in Kazakhstan into the case of Iakov Vorontsov, a former priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been completed. The defense is awaiting the indictment.

Earlier, the former priest, an opponent of Russia’s war against Ukraine and an initiator of efforts to establish an autocephalous Orthodox Church, was committed for one month to compulsory treatment at a psychiatric hospital in Almaty Region. The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights said at the time that doctors had found no mental disorders in Vorontsov. He was subsequently returned to pretrial detention.

Earlier, we reported that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had added Iakov Vorontsov, a priest defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church, to its international database of people persecuted for their religious beliefs.