• Topics / The right to liberty and security
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Another priest abducted in Donetsk
Delegation to Mayor Lukyanenko asking him to help obtain Father Tikhon’s release
A priest from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, Yury Ivanov was abducted on July 8. According to Said Ismagilov, Mufti of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Ukraine [UMMA], Kremlin-backed militants had previously turned up at Father Yury’s home and demanded that he ask Archbishop Serhiy of the Donetsk UOC KP to urgently come to his home, obviously so that the militants could abduct him.
Said Ismagilov has also been active as part of a delegation including Roman Catholic priest Father Nikolai, Greek-Catholic priest Yury Yurchyk, and Pastor Sergey Kosyak who met with the Mayor of Donetsk on Tuesday. They asked him to intercede on behalf of abducted Greek-Catholic priest Father Tikhon.
They already knew that Father Tikhon was being held hostage by the so-called Russian Orthodox Army. Mayor Lukyanenko promised to call for Father Tikhon’s release when he met with Alexander Borodai from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
In fact, Said Ismagilov writes, they learned far more from a Wall Street Journalist about who to negotiate with, who to contact. There were obvious some positive signs during the day however late at night Pastor Sergey wrote on his Facebook page that the hoped for release has yet to materialize.