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The prosecution has requested that Nikolai Romanyuk, a minister of a Pentecostal church who was arrested over an anti-war sermon, be sentenced to four years and ten months in a penal colony. This was reported by an SOTAvision correspondent from the Balashikha City Court, in a city just outside Moscow.
The trial is being held publicly, but only 10 out of 40 people wishing to attend were allowed into the courtroom; accredited media were not admitted. The defendant’s final statement is scheduled for 2 September.
Romanyuk is being tried under the article on calls for activities directed against state security, committed using official status and the Internet (Sections “b” and “v,” Part 2, Article 280.4 of the Criminal Code). The case was initiated because of an anti-war sermon delivered by the clergyman on 25 September 2022. In it, he spoke about how it is unacceptable for Christians to participate in any war, including the Russia-Ukraine war: “I would put it this way: when you are offered a dose, when you are offered a bottle of alcohol or given a draft notice to send you into combat—it is the same sin, the same drug, the same Satan. And as a believer… Find me in the Old Testament even a hint that we could in any way take part in this. And it does not matter which ruler is calling for it—the Ukrainian ruler, the American ruler, or our own ruler. …> Our doctrine stated that we are pacifists and cannot take part in this …> We do not bless those who go there, who are taken by force—we do not bless them, but we pray for them to be delivered from there. There are different legal ways to do this,” said Romanyuk.
Law enforcement conducted a search at Romanyuk’s home on 18 October 2024. As Roman Zhukov, another pastor in Romanyuk’s church, told Novaya Gazeta: “Nikolai Romanyuk’s children were taken outside without being allowed to get dressed and made to lie on the ground. During the search (which took about 12 hours), they remained face down in the dirt under the aim of assault rifles, while the convoy, to keep themselves entertained, traced laser sights over their heads.”
Following the search, the clergyman was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention centre, where he remains to this day. After another extension of his pre-trial detention in February, his daughter wrote: “And this time Dad did not stay silent, he was given the floor. And he said that war is always terrible, and God’s word does not permit us to kill people! It does not matter on which side, or in which country! That’s why we have alternative civilian service in our country, which is legal!”
Romanyuk is 65 years old and senior pastor of the Church of Evangelical Christians “Church of the Holy Trinity.” In June his daughter wrote that while in custody, he “went through something like a pre-stroke condition, or a microstroke—we don’t know for sure.” Since his arrest, the clergyman has lost about 40 kilograms, his eyesight is deteriorating, his psoriasis has worsened, and he is experiencing increased back pain.