ISRAEL/RUSSIA
JTA
April 9, 2014
(JTA) — An Israel-based priest who is facing extradition to his native Russia on child molestation charges said he would leave soon to prove his innocence.
Prosecutors in St. Petersburg asked Israel to extradite Gleb Grozovsky, 34, earlier this week in connection with allegations that he molested two girls in Greece last year, the Russian Interfax news agency reported.
On Tuesday, Grozovsky, who is working in Israel in a program that helps drug addicts, wrote on the Vkontakte social network that he would fight the allegations in court.
“I will return to Russia soon, where I will defend my innocence and the honor of Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky’s family because the Russian law enforcement authorities are already making an attempt to hold members of our big family criminally liable, and illegally, by inflicting psychological pressure,” Grozovsky wrote.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office requested the extradition based on what one unnamed source said were ”materials obtained from the Investigations Committee’s Investigations Department for St. Petersburg in connection with a case involving the molestation of two minors.”
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