Priest Denies Accusations of Child Molestation

The Interfax
November 6, 2013

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=10878

St. Petersburg, November 6, Interfax - Gleb Grozovsky, the former senior priest of the Church of John the Warrior, St. Petersburg Metropole of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is accused of molesting two children, has denied his guilt

"The case materials are full of emotions and there is not a single piece of evidence of my guilt. According to the parents, they were threatened and psychologically pressured to accuse me of all these abominable things. The mothers were pressured to make their accusations. Many women gave in to emotions now they realize that they have been deceived and they don't know what to do," Grozovsky said on a social networking site on Wednesday.

Grozovsky said only witnesses for the prosecution have now been questioned by the investigators. "They haven't questioned any camp counselors or the parents of the children who were in the camp, whereas there were educators in the camps who came there with their children and saw everything with their own eyes, plus I had my family and my four children with me," Grozovsky said.

The priest said he is now on a visit to a center for alcohol and drug-dependent people in Israel at the blessing of the bishop.

"Documents are being prepared in connection with the regular violations of the laws by the operational search official and the investigator. An appeal has also been filed against the illegal actions taken by the court, which has put me on the international list," the priest said, adding that he believes he has been framed.

It was reported earlier that a criminal case has been opened against Grozovsky based on the article of the Russian Criminal Code dealing with the molestation of a child under the age of 14.

According to information possessed by the investigators, Grozovsky, 34, molested two girls, aged nine and 12, in a hotel located on the territory of a children's camp belonging to the Orthodox travelers club, Philadelphia, on Kos Island in Greece in June 2013.

The investigators are now verifying information on the commission of similar crimes in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region by the suspect, the Investigations Committee's Department for St. Petersburg reported.

Grozovsky was arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list.