- Metropolitan Ilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church was released in the Czech Republic.
- The release took place without bail, travel restrictions or other procedural obligations.
- The Czech authorities are still investigating the case, they have not initiated criminal prosecution against anyone.
Archbishop Ilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church, who was detained in the Czech Republic, is free. “Metropolitan Ilarion is released,” reported his Telegram channel on Tuesday afternoon. TASR writes about it on the basis of a report by the TASS agency.
The agency specified that the metropolitan he was released without any restrictions – no bail, no further written commitment, no travel ban or other procedural obligations. The prosecutor from the Kladno District Attorney’s Office, Michaela Machová, told Novinky.cz that “the matter is still in the investigation phase and no one has been prosecuted”.
The metropolitan’s defense will request an investigation into the circumstances of the detention, his Telegram channel reported. Ilarion categorically denied any involvement in the illegal possession of prohibited substances, calling his arrest a provocation. According to his own words, in recent months he has received many anonymous threats, including physical violence with the request that he leave his place of work, TASS agency recalled.
Moscow strongly protested against the detention of the metropolitan. Tuesday before lunch they summoned Czech diplomat Jan Ondřejka to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to which they raised a strong protest in this regard.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the accusations “absurd and unfounded”. The fact that the police operation took place on the basis of an anonymous tip, according to the ministry, indicates its “planned and provocative nature”. The Russian side urgently demanded “the unconditional and immediate release of Metropolitan Hilarion, as well as an end to the persecution of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic.”
The police arrested Ilarion last weekend on suspicion of transporting narcotics. The portal Novinky.cz reported that he was detained on Sunday in the city of Unhošť in the Central Bohemian Region after leaving the Karlovy Vary Orthodox Church of Saints Peter and Paul. In the trunk of his vehicle, the police reportedly found four bags of white cloth.
