MOSCOW, July 9 (RAPSI) – A case of excommunicated former schema monk Sergius (Nikolay Romanov) will be heard by Moscow’s Izmaylovsky District Court, RAPSI has learnt from the press service of Russia’s Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has held that the case will be considered in Moscow.

Romanov was placed in detention in December 2020. He stands charged with inducing a minor to commit suicide. Earlier, Russia’s Children Ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova petitioned the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee to launch a probe into allegations of child abuse in a nunnery situated near town of Sredneuralsk in the Sverdlovsk Region, where the former schema monk took refuge.

Moreover, he is accused of violating a right to freedom of thought, conscience and and religionarbitrary behavior.

He denies his guilt.

His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill approved a decision of the church court of the Yekaterinburg eparchy to excommunicate schema monk Sergius (Romanov) on October 19.