Kurmoyarov Dmitriy Valerevich (Ioann)

On June 7, 2022, a search was conducted in St. Petersburg at the home of priest and Doctor of Theology Ioann (Dmitry) Kurmoyarov. Tech, two icons, a wooden cross and a cassock were seized from him. Kurmoyarov himself was detained for 48 hours before the measure of restraint was chosen. Kurmoyarov was accused of spreading knowingly false information about the activities of the RF Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine out of political hatred and for selfish reasons. The reason for the criminal prosecution was video clips on VKontakte and the YouTube channel "Orthodox Virtual Parish. In total, Kurmoyarov was charged with 63 episodes of posting "false information" about the actions of the Russian army from February 24 to June 6, 2022. In one of the videos, Kurmoyarov says that Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine will go to hell, not to heaven. In paradise, blessed are the peacemakers, peacemakers, do you understand what the problem is? And those who unleashed aggression - they will not be in paradise." Linguists who conducted an examination of the video recording concluded that Kurmoyarov "expresses knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces" motivated by political hatred. The investigation justified the 'mercenary' motives by the fact that a personal bank card of the priest was linked to the account." On June 9, 2022, the Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg, at the request of the investigation, chose a preventive measure for Kurmoyarov in the form of detention. On August 31, 2023, Judge Ekaterina Tyamina of the Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg found Dmitry Kurmoyarov guilty and sentenced him to three years in a general regime colony." In addition, the court prohibited Ioann from administering internet resources for two years. On February 15, 2024, Anatoly Popov, a judge of the St. Petersburg City Court, upheld the verdict.