Former Russian Orthodox Church priest Iakov Vorontsov has been sentenced in Kazakhstan to six years in prison in a drug possession case. Taking into account an amnesty linked to the adoption of a new Constitution, the sentence was reduced to four years, Vlast.kz reports.
The court also ordered Vorontsov to pay 86,500 tenge (about $200) to the victims' compensation fund and another 39,500 tenge ($88) to the state to cover costs.
Vorontsov was found guilty of unlawfully acquiring and possessing, without intent to distribute, an analogue of a psychotropic substance in especially large quantities (Article 296, Part 4 of Kazakhstan's Criminal Code). A search of his home turned up 2.44 grams of a methcathinone analogue.
The case was heard by Medeu District Court No. 2 in Almaty. The first hearing took place on September 16. At the outset, the prosecutor asked for the proceedings to be held behind closed doors, saying some witnesses feared for their safety. The court granted the request despite objections from the defense. In protest, Vorontsov announced a hunger strike.
Hieromonk Iakov Vorontsov became known in Kazakhstan for his open anti-war stance. He publicly criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the policies of the Russian Orthodox Church leadership, and tried to register an Orthodox community in Kazakhstan independent of the Moscow Patriarchate.
He was later defrocked. On the night of February 13, he was detained. An Almaty administrative court found the hieromonk guilty of non-medical drug use and sentenced him to 10 days of arrest. He was later charged with maintaining a drug den and drug possession without intent to distribute, and on February 25 an investigative court ordered his arrest again.
Father Iakov rejected all the charges and called the case fabricated.
On May 13, an investigator asked the court to replace his measure of restraint with placement in a specialized psychiatric institution. According to his lawyer, Galym Nurpeisov, the defense refused a psychiatric examination, yet Vorontsov was sent for compulsory treatment. His return from the psychiatric hospital to the pretrial detention center became known on July 13.
«The doctors found no mental abnormalities in him and refused to treat a healthy person for unknown reasons,» the KMBPCh said at the time.
The investigation was completed at the end of summer. Shortly before the trial began, Nurpeisov reported that his client had been served with a new indictment. It dropped the charge of organizing or maintaining a drug den (Article 302, Part 1 of the Criminal Code), leaving only the article on unlawful drug possession.
