MOSCOW (AP) — A former Russian Orthodox monk who denied the coronavirus and defied the Kremlin was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison.
Nikolai Romanov, 67, known as Father Sergiy until his excommunication through the Russian Orthodox Church, suggested his followers disobey the Russian government’s shutdown measures and spread conspiracy theories about a global conspiracy among the masses.
A Moscow court found him guilty of inciting hatred. His lawyer announced his intention to appeal.
Romanov served as a police officer in Soviet times, but after leaving the ranks, he was convicted of murder, robbery, and assault and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. He became a monk after his release.
When the coronavirus pandemic began, he denied their lifestyles and denounced the government’s efforts to stop the pandemic as “Satan’s electronic field. “Conspiracy to the masses through microchips.
The monk rebuked President Vladimir Putin as a “traitor to the motherland” who served a satanic “world government” and denounced the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, and other clerics as “heretics” who will have to be “kicked out. “. ” outside. “
Romanov suggested to his followers that they disobey the government shutdown measures and locked himself in a monastery he founded near Yekaterinburg. He enforced his rules through dozens of burly army veterans as the prioress and several nuns left.
The Russian Orthodox Church stripped Romanov of his abbot rank for violating monastic norms and then excommunicated him, but rejected the decisions. In the face of strong resistance from many of his followers, church and local government officials hesitated for months until, despite everything, they made a decision to expel Romanov and detain him.
Romanov has been detained since his arrest in December 2020. In November 2021, he was sentenced to 3 1/2 years after being convicted of inciting suicidal movements through sermons in which he suggested believers “die for Russia” and violating freedom of conscience. , accusations he denied. The seven-year sentence shall be enforced at the same time as the previous sentence.