Priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—Moscow Patriarchate consecrated a prison in Berdyansk where Ukrainians are being tortured
In the temporarily occupied city of Berdyansk, clergymen who are currently collaborating with the Russian Orthodox Church conducted a consecration ceremony for Penal Colony No. 2, which Ukrainian human rights activists, journalists, and former prisoners of war describe as a place of illegal detention and torture of Ukrainian military personnel and civilians.
According to journalists, the ceremony was performed by Archpriest Vitaliy Zhitko and Priest Yaroslav Popov, who are affiliated with the so-called Berdyansk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
They consecrated the administrative buildings, office spaces, as well as the staff and leadership of the facility.
During the ceremony, Zhitko addressed the prison staff, urging them to faithfully perform their duties.
“May this consecrated place become for you a symbol of justice and a source of strength in your difficult work. Today we not only sprinkled the walls with holy water, but also called upon God’s grace to assist all who work here,” he stated.
According to media reports, the current prison was established on the basis of the state institution “Primorsk Correctional Colony No. 145” (formerly Berdyansk Correctional Colony No. 77). Since the city’s capture, Russian occupation forces have been using it to hold Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages.
Former captives describe the brutal conditions of their detention. According to them, people were kept in isolation for months without outdoor exercise or access to showers, in cold cells with loud music constantly playing, which made any communication between prisoners impossible.
There are also reports of overcrowded cells, where four to five people were held in a space of just a few square meters, leaving many without enough room to sleep.
Former detainees claim that the facility had a separate, unnumbered cell from which screams and sounds of abuse could regularly be heard.
According to their testimonies, during interrogations, prisoners were subjected to beatings, electric shocks, and gas masks, with physical and psychological pressure being used.
According to journalists, Hieromonk Yaroslav Popov plays an important role in the colony’s operations. He currently heads the prison department within the structure of the Berdyansk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church established by the occupiers and serves as the deputy head of the occupation administration of the Federal Penitentiary Service for work with believers.
Prior to the occupation, Popov served in churches of the UOC-MP in the Berdyansk district and was a chaplain at the penal colony, on the site of which the current facility was later established, which is used by the occupying authorities to detain Ukrainians.
Earlier, law enforcement officials announced that a clergyman of the Sieversk-Donetsk Diocese of the UOC (MP) was under suspicion for actively engaging in information activities in favor of the aggressor country.
In Ukraine, charges were filed against a Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church who justified the war
As a reminder, the SBU and the National Police exposed 20 organizers of draft evasion schemes across Ukraine.
Also this year, over 270 organizers of schemes to smuggle draft dodgers abroad were exposed in Zakarpattia.
