Covid-denying Russian monk sentenced to 7 years for inciting hatred
- Nikolai Romanov urged his followers to disobey the government’s lockdown measures and spread conspiracy theories about a global plot to control the masses
- A police officer in Soviet times, after quitting he was convicted of murder, robbery and assault and sentenced to 13 years, becoming a monk after his release
A former Russian Orthodox monk, who denied that the coronavirus existed and defied the Kremlin, was handed a seven-year prison sentence on Friday.
Nikolai Romanov, 67, who was known as Father Sergiy until his excommunication by the Russian Orthodox Church, urged his followers to disobey the Russian government’s lockdown measures and spread conspiracy theories about a global plot to control the masses.
A court in Moscow convicted him of inciting hatred. His lawyer immediately announced plans to appeal.
Romanov served as a police officer during Soviet times, but after quitting the ranks was convicted of murder, robbery and assault and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He became a monk after his release.
When the coronavirus pandemic began, he denied its existence and denounced government efforts to stem the pandemic as “Satan’s electronic camp”. He spread long-debunked conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and described the vaccines developed against the virus as part of a global plot to control the masses via microchips.
The monk chastised President Vladimir Putin as a “traitor to the Motherland” who was serving a satanic “world government”, and denounced the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, and other top clerics as “heretics” who must be “thrown out”.