Kazakhstan has completed the pretrial investigation into the case of former Russian Orthodox Church priest Iakov Vorontsov. The defense expects the indictment to be handed over.

His lawyer, Galym Nurpeisov, told Azattyq Asia.

He added that his client, who is currently being held in a pretrial detention center in Almaty, has developed health problems. According to Nurpeisov, Vorontsov experienced a recurrence of a trophic ulcer on his leg amid stress.

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

Vorontsov was arrested on February 13 for 10 days on suspicion of “using narcotic substances.” The arrest was preceded by a nighttime search of his home in Almaty, during which police said they found three packages containing a prohibited substance. Vorontsov denied the accusation.

As LF reported, on February 13, Hieromonk Iakov Vorontsov, known for his anti-war stance and criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church, was detained in Kazakhstan at night.

He is a former hieromonk of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Astana and Almaty Diocese. He became known in 2023 after criticizing Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, as well as the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2024, Vorontsov was banned from serving as a priest and defrocked. A case was also opened against him under Article 141 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code (“incitement of social, national, tribal, racial, class or religious hatred, insulting national honor and dignity, or the religious feelings of citizens”). The investigation was later terminated due to the absence of a criminal offense.

It is known that several years ago Vorontsov attempted to establish an Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan that would not be subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. He twice submitted documents to the Ministry of Justice for registration, but was refused both times.

Earlier, we reported that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had included Iakov Vorontsov, a priest defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church, in an international database of people persecuted for their faith.