ICC NOTE: A Ukrainian religious leader was arrested and then released on bail under Russia’s controversial Yarovaya laws, otherwise known as the anti-missionary laws. Sergei Zhuravlyov is a representative of a Ukrainian Christian church that is not recognized by the Russian government. Due to the lack of recognition by the state, his actions toward speaking to a group of Messianic Jews in St. Petersburg led to him being detained under the new law. He joins four other individuals who are known to have been arrested and charged under the Yarovaya laws which include three other Christians and one member of the Hare Krishna movement.
8/30/2016 Russia (The Moscow Times) – Russia has brought an administrative case against a religious leader under the country’s controversial new package of anti-terrorist laws.
Sergei Zhuravlyov, a representative of the Ukrainian Reformed Orthodox Church of Christ the Savior, stands accused of spreading hate speech and maintaining ties to an illegal organization.
According to an Aug. 27 blog post by Zhuravlyov, he was arrested while preaching before the St. Petersburg Messianic Jewish community and accused of violating a provision of Russian anti-terrorist legislation that bans illegal missionary activity.
A law enforcement official quoted by the Interfax news agency claimed that Zhuravlyov was fomenting negative attitudes toward the Russian Orthodox Church and that he maintains ties with individuals connected to the Ukrainian nationalist political party “Right Sector,” which is banned in the Russian Federation.
