Lawyer: Russian Priest Accused of Pedophilia Remains in Israel

The Interfax
December 4, 2013

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=10950

St. Petersburg, December 4, Interfax - Russian Orthodox priest Gleb Grozovsky, who is accused of lewd acts with a child, remains in Israel but his exact whereabouts are unclear, according to his lawyer. 

"He is in Israel, I don't know where exactly. In this situation he has the status of a citizen and not that of a priest," Artyom Bakonin told Interfax.

Investigators claim that the 34-year-old priest sexually abused girls aged nine and 12 at a hotel on the premises of an Orthodox children's camp on the Kos Island in Greece in June this year. Grozovsky, who was afterward temporarily posted at a drug abuse help center in Israel, had an arrest warrant issued for him and put on an international wanted list.

In November, the Diocese of Gatchina, near St. Petersburg, announced that Grozovsky's posting in Israel had been terminated and urged him to return to Russia. Grozovsky was suspended as a priest for the period the alleged crimes are being investigated.

Grozovsky protests his innocence.

Bakonin said in his interview with Interfax that he did not know whether Grozovsky continued to work with drug addicts in Israel. However, "nobody has forbidden my client to hold any conversations with drug addicts with the aim of having them join the Church," the lawyer said.

Bakonin also said he did not know of any new evidence against Grozovsky.