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Priest accused of corruption of minors applies for Israeli visa

ST. PETERSBURG, December 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Priest Gleb Grozovsky, accused of corruption of minors and arrested in Russia in absentia, has applied for an entry visa to Israel, where he is now.

He arrived in Israel without a visa as Russian nationals may stay in Israel without a visa within 90 days. “At the present moment the procedure has been launched, and the Israeli authorities will make their decision on the visa within 45 days, during which he will be staying in the country,” Grozovsky’s lawyer Artyom Bakonin told Tass.

“There must be grounds for denying him a visa, so far this is a speculation,” he said commenting on a possible refusal of the Israeli authorities to grant the visa.

Early in December, the St. Petersburg investigation department of the Russian Investigative Committee extended the probe into Grozovsky until February 20, 2014. In November, the Investigative Committee launched the procedure to extradite the priest. Criminal proceedings against him were launched under the article “sexual battery”.

According to information possessed by the investigators, in June 2013 Grozovsky sexually battered two girls, aged nine and 12, on the territory of a children's camp belonging to the Orthodox travelers club Philadelphia on Kos Island in Greece. The Investigative Committee also checks whether the accused priest was involved in other similar crimes.

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