DONETSK, March 7. /TASS/. An Orthodox priest, who was released from Ukrainian captivity in February, has narrated to a TASS correspondent the details of his several-months-long torture ordeal in Ukrainian jails.
Archpriest Nikolay (Nikolay Zirka), the prior of the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in the village of Yarovaya, near Krasny Liman in Donbass, was arrested on September 18 minutes before the beginning of a Sunday prayer service.
According to Father Nikolay’s recollections, Ukrainian secret service agents came to the church ostensibly to invite him "for a talk." The interrogations that followed, however, soon involved harsh questioning and systematic beatings. The SBU’s obvious aim was to force the priest to confess that he had allegedly cooperated with the Russian special services.
"They mistook me for a military man. They kept beating me, demanding confessions, such as my rank, call sign, etc. I suffered blows to the head and the chest. Some were so heavy that I lost my breath. My arm still hurts," Father Nikolay said.
Eventually, the jailed priest was sent to a detention center in the city of Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk), where he had to spend some time awaiting trial for complicity. Eventually, the court handed him a seven-year prison term. As well, his personal property was confiscated.
Father Nikolay was not the only cleric held in the dungeons of Ukraine’s special services. He recalls chance meetings with several other clergymen.
"There were three of us priests. Father Andrey was from Severodonetsk. By the day I met him he had already spent 4.5 months behind bars. And a third priest was incarcerated later," Father Nikolay added.
On February 17, the DPR’s human rights commissioner, Darya Morozova, announced that the release of nine DPR soldiers and one priest from Ukrainian captivity had been secured.