Moscow, November 25, 2024
Photo: bloknot.ru
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has written a letter to a judge asking that a Russian musician who has repented of a series of scandalous videos not be punished.
The 26-year-old Eduard Charlot is accused of violating the right to freedom of conscience and religion, rehabilitation of Nazism, destruction of an official document, and inciting hatred or enmity.
While abroad in Armenia, he published videos in which he burned his passport, parodied a song about the victory over Nazi Germany, and nailed an image of Patriarch Kirill and a homemade cross to a tree, reports Kommersant.
Charlot was detained last November when he returned to Russia, flying into St. Petersburg.
While in custody, he recorded an apology to Pat. Kirill and all believers, which led the Russian primate to call for him to be released from criminal liability, as provided for by the law. Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and Media, sent a letter to the judge explaining the Patriarch’s position.
Courts have previously taken the Church’s opinion into account on similar cases.
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