RUSSIA: Peaceful clergy statements "can become the target of prosecution"

In a series of administrative prosecutions, a Krasnodar Region court fined Orthodox priest Fr Iona Sigida on 18 December for allegedly expressing "overt disrespect" for society, state bodies, and state symbols, apparently for articles on his church's website. Other administrative cases are pending. He also faces criminal charges. In September, a St Petersburg court fined Fr Grigory Okhanov for his religiously-based opposition to Russia's war in Ukraine. Also in St Petersburg, Archbishop Grigory