Author: Willy Fautre

  • One year after the Russian shelling of Odesa and its Cathedral, still no financial assistance from UNESCO

    The world community strongly condemned Russia’s shelling of the historical center of Odesa which damaged and disfigured the Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral. Many Western delegations visited Odesa but only two Western states promised their assistance.

    By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers with Dr Ievgeniia Gidulianova from Odesa

    Father Miroslav (Miroslav Vdodovitch), the rector of the Cathedral of Odesa

    HRWF (24.07.2024) – On the night of 23 July 2023, the Transfiguration Cathedral was seriously damaged and disfigured during a massive Russian missile attack on the historical center of Odesa which is part of UNESCO World Heritage. The world community strongly condemned Russia’s act of aggression while Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) kept silent about it and about President Putin’s responsibility. One year later, Father Miroslav (Miroslav Vdodovitch), the rector of the Cathedral, has still not seen the first Euros that were promised by UNESCO.

    Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Consul General of the Hellenic Republic in Odesa, Dimitrios Dohtsis were first on the line to quickly announce their support in the media.

    On the first anniversary of this cultural tragedy, the Brussels-based NGO, Human Rights Without Frontiers, published a damning report (in English and in Ukrainian) about UNESCO’s blocking the transfer of 500,000 EUR donated by Italy to Odesa for the restoration of the Cathedral.

    Italy, Odesa and the Cathedral, a love story

    Italy has some historical links with Odesa and the Transfiguration Cathedral as the first architects of Odesa were mainly Italians.

    The Cathedral started to be built in 1795 but construction lagged several years behind schedule. Thanks to the intervention of the famous Duke of Richelieu, who was appointed as governor of the city in 1803, the Italian architect Francesco Frappoli was employed to complete the edifice. He is well-known in Odesa for making in 1810 the original design of the first luxurious Opera House, where Italian opera prevailed. Unfortunately, in 1873 the building was completely destroyed by fire and other historical buildings in the city as well.

    In the period from the 1820s to the 1850s, the city of Odessa had a very significant and important Italian colony among its inhabitants. The euphonious language of “Golden Italy” was constantly heard on the streets.

    Talented Italian architects then created the image of young Odessa, gave the city an extraordinary flavor, forever inscribing it among the most beautiful cities in Europe. It was the Italians who built the key buildings in the city center in the first half of the 19th century, which adorn Odessa to this day.

    The heart of Odesa, World Heritage, heavily damaged by Russian missiles

    Four days after Russia’s shelling, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Odesa to visit the rehabilitation departments where Ukrainian defenders were recovering and to inspect the damage caused to the Orthodox Cathedral of Transfiguration. He quickly discovered that in July 2023, more than 30 cultural heritage sites were damaged, including:

    • Odessa Transfiguration Cathedral (missile strike on July 23, 2023).
    • House of Scientists (palace of Count Tolstoy) (missile strike on July 23, 2023).
    • Odessa Art Museum  (missile strike on July 23, 2023 – on November 5, 2023, it was hit again by a missile strike, which caused a lot of destruction)
    • Odessa Archaeological Museum (missile strike on July 20, 2023).
    • Odessa Maritime Museum (missile strike on July 20, 2023).
    • Odessa Literary Museum (missile strike on July 20, 2023).
    • Museum of Western and Oriental Art (missile strike on July 20, 2023). 
    • St. Nicholas Church (missile strike on July 18, 2023).
    • Residential building of Chizhevych (mid-nineteenth century, architectural monument of local importance) (missile strike on July 23, 2023).
    • Residential development of Solomos (early 20th century, architectural monument of local importance) (missile strike on July 23, 2023).
    • Manuk Bey’s mansion, where a kindergarten for visually impaired children was located (missile strike on July 23, 2023).
    • Tolstoy’s mansion, where the kindergarten is located (missile strike on July 20, 2023).

    In the last twelve months, many foreign delegations have visited these damaged sites.

    A non-exhaustive list of foreign visitors on the sites of the Russian shelling

    On 21 August 2023, a delegation led by a professor from the University of Cambridge with photographers from different countries went to Odesa to record the destruction.

    On 7 September 2023, the Ambassador of Italy to Ukraine, the Consul of Italy in Odesa, representatives of the Italian government, Italian specialists in the restoration of cultural heritage and the entire UNESCO apparatus present in Ukraine, headed by Chiara Bardeschi visited the places to be restored.

    On 30 September 2023, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell visited the places hit by Russian missiles in Odesa.

    On 6 October 2023, the new Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Germany to Ukraine, Martin Jäger, went to Odesa and declared “I came to Odesa immediately after my appointment. We have a special interest in the preservation of cultural heritage, which is under the protection of UNESCO.”

    On 13 October 2023, during a working trip to the Odesa region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, who was on a visit to the country. Mark Rutte who will be appointed NATO Secretary General on 1 October 2024 then promised military assistance such as Patriot systems meant to protect Ukrainian cities against Russian missiles.

    On 13 November 2023, a delegation of representatives of 11 African countries visited Odesa.

    On 16 November 2023, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron went to Odesa with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and visited the cathedral as part of the review of evidence of Russian terrorism. The meeting was mainly devoted to assistance to Ukraine.

    On 20 January 2024, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi visited the Cathedral during a visit to Odesa region to discuss strengthening assistance to residents of the city and displaced persons affected by Russian aggression.

    On 25 February 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Ambassador of Germany to Ukraine visited Odesa as part of a delegation of 40 people meeting to talk about cooperation and assistance to Ukraine.

    On 6 March 2024, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy accompanied Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a visit to Odesa taking place within the framework of a cooperation meeting between the two countries. During their visit, there was an air alarm and Russian shelling.

    On 25 March 2024, Chief Ombusman of Ukraine Dmytro Luninets and Chief Ombusman of Turkey Seref Malkoç visited the Cathedral during a meeting on cooperation with Turkey to protect the rights of Ukrainian prisoners of war and illegally detained civilians, as well as to find missing persons.

    On 30 March 2024, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk and the Head of the National Assembly of France Yael Braun-Pivet visited the Cathedral during their meeting in Odesa on issues of military assistance to Ukraine. The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada asked for France’s assistance to protect the sky over Odesa so that other tragedies can be avoided.

    On 8 April 2024, an American delegation consisting of six congressmen and Senator Joni Ernst visited the Cathedral during a visit to Odessa.

    Many visits of European delegations but only pledges of two Western states

    In the aftermath of these official visits, few Western states have spontaneously pledged to take part in the speedy restauration or reconstruction of the Cathedral.

    Concerning the European Union, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell did not make any promise that the EU would contribute to the reconstruction of the destroyed parts of the Cathedral and other historical sites. He just said that the strike on the city was another Russian war crime and he tweeted: “Russia’s relentless missile terror against UNESCO-protected Odessa is yet another war crime by the Kremlin, which has also destroyed the main Orthodox cathedral, a World Heritage Site. Russia has already damaged hundreds of cultural sites in an attempt to destroy Ukraine.”

    The contribution of 500,000 EUR promised by PM Giorgia Meloni in Italy for urgent repair of the Cathedral which has been channeled through UNESCO has still not been transferred by this international institution to Odesa…

    Last year, the Consul General of Greece in Odessa, Dimitrios Dohtsis, announced that his country also intended to contribute to the restoration of architectural monuments that were damaged during the Russian missile attack, including the Cathedral, but as of today nothing has been made public about concrete initiatives and no financial assistance has reached Odesa.

  • Argentina – BAYS Yoga School, Nullity of elevation to trial confirmed by the Cassation Court

    Controversial accusations of criminal activities and prosecutions rejected for the second time.

    A setback for the prosecutors

    On 5 June last, the National Chamber of Cassation for Criminal and Correctional Matters confirmed the nullity of the elevation to trial of the defendants in the case known as the “Buenos Aires Yoga School” (BAYS), accused of “criminal activities.” The decision of the Cassation Court is not the end of the case as it is returned to the judge of first instance but it is clearly a setback for the prosecutors who were twice clearly disavowed.

    In August 2022, about 50 spectacular police raids, “mysteriously” leaked to the media, were simultaneously conducted against members of the yoga school on the sole basis of unfounded accusations by one single person, Pablo Salum, that the Office of the Prosecutor for Human Trafficking and Exploitation (PROTEX) instrumentalized to support its controversial concepts of victims of trafficking and abuse of vulnerability. After that, hundreds of media outlets in Argentina and abroad had presented the yoga group headed by Juan Percowicz, now 86, as a “horror cult.”

    Salum is a bizarre and megalomaniac anti-cult individual, who sees cults everywhere, even regarding the Catholic Carmelite Order. He publicly said on social media and YouTube that he had lodged a complaint against BAYS. He also inspired PROTEX massive raids against 38 centers of the Evangelical humanitarian organization REMAR, a respected NGO specialized in the rehabilitation of drug addicts and (paradoxically) women victims of real trafficking.

    The key facts

    In September 2022, judge Ariel Lijo tried to prosecute nineteen BAYS members, including Juan Percowicz, for crimes of illegal association, human trafficking for sexual exploitation and money laundering, following a request made by federal prosecutor Carlos Stornelli and his colleagues from the PROTEX, Alejandra Mangano and Marcelo Colombo.

    From the beginning of the case, all the alleged victims denied the accusations and denounced that they were being stigmatized as “brainwashed prostitutes” when they had never prostituted themselves, and have never been forced into anything by BAYS. To dispel any doubts, they asked to be examined by forensic experts to confirm their statements.

    After that, on November 2022, the Federal Chamber of Appeal ruled the lack of merit of two defendants and, although confirming the prosecutions of the remaining, ruled that scientific psychological and psychiatric examinations be carried out on all the alleged victims in order to investigate whether there are any signs that their wills were unduly influenced or coerced.

    On 4 July 2023, without addressing the results of those examinations –which with no exception determined total lack of any characteristics of submission, emotional dependence, lability, manipulation, or the assumption of a merely passive role in the interpersonal relationships of the alleged victims– Judge Ariel Lijo and prosecutors Carlos Stornelli, Marcelo Colombo and Alejandra Mángano tried to elevate the case to trial. However, on 7 December of the same year, the National Court of Appeals for Criminal and Correctional Matters, composed of judges Martin Irurzun, Roberto Boico and Eduardo Farah, annulled that order and commanded Judge Lijo to review that forensic results and to let the defense intervene in the evaluation. This is the decision confirmed by the National Chamber of Cassation.

    The fabrication of “victims” of trafficking and the “rescue industry”

    Until 2012, trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation was punishable by Law 26.364 on Prevention and Punishment of Human Traficking and Assistance to Victims but on 19 December 2012, this law was amended in such a way that it opened the door to controversial interpretation and implementation. It is now identified as Law 26.842.

    In this context, cases of alleged human trafficking linked to spiritual minorities have emerged in Argentina along with the use of anti-cult language in the narratives of anti-trafficking agents in the media, legal and judicial settings. In this regard, decried and obsolete concepts such as “cults”, “brainwashing”, “coercive organization” and “coercive persuasion” are coming back to the front stage and are getting a new life. So, when presumed victims of trafficking deny they are victims, anti-trafficking operators now disqualify their statements because in their eyes, they do not perceive themselves as such as their adhesion to an “ideological or spiritual system” prevents them from recognizing their exploitative situation.

    This creates a “victimization paradigm” and leads to a vicious circle according to which they are vulnerable per se and, therefore, victims, who are denied the capacity and the right to intervene in the narrative of events. Their only status is “to be rescued”.

    Scholars understand this phenomenon as a “rescue industry” that allows anti-trafficking agencies to generate a large number of cases in order to increase their public visibility and authority. This also makes possible to consider a wide range of legal activities –such as volunteering and donation– as “trafficking.”

    Controversies inside and outside the courts

    Judge Lijo and PROTEX resolutions raised numerous criticisms in the Chamber of Appeal. Judge Farah has reiterated in his last vote that the alleged victims must be heard, and that not doing so means an act of paternalism alien to the due behavior of a democratic justice sensitive to gender equality. In his opinion, after listening to the personal testimonies of these women, it is clear that none of them is a victim of human trafficking, which is confirmed by the results of the forensic examinations. In Farah’s opinion, the defendants should be acquitted.

    Judges Irurzun and Boico consider that these expert opinions are essential to evaluate a change in the procedural status of the defendants. Ultimately, it was the Chamber of Appeal itself that requested their performance and now urges Judge Lijo to evaluate them. Failure to do so is contrary to the right to legitimate defense.

    But not only the court has spoken. Numerous researchers, after interviewing BAYS members and studying the legal documents, have questioned the anti-cultist arguments of PROTEX and Judge Lijo. These research results were published in scientific journals and conferences –such as the one held in Bordeaux between June 12 and 16, 2024, by the Center for the Study of New Religions (CESNUR)– as well as at the 53rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

    The message is clear: denying the credibility of clinically healthy adult women through pseudoscientific arguments is a direct attack on individual liberties protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Argentine Constitution.

  • Russia – Three Jehovah’s Witnesses sentenced to 78, 74 and 27 months in prison

    Gevorg Yeritsyan, a Jehovah’s Witness sentenced to 6 years and 2 months in prison at the end of June, declared in court  at the end of his trial:

    “Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced persecution at different times and in different countries. But what’s interesting is that after the persecution they were always exonerated. This was the case for Witnesses persecuted in Nazi Germany (link) and under the Soviet Union.”

    “After the end of the Soviet rule in 1991 the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) in Russia was officially registered. JW were rehabilitated and deemed victims of unjustified repression against believers after Boris Yeltsin’s decree in 1996.” (Religion During the Russian Ukrainian Conflict, 2019, p. 226)

    The court decision

    On June 26, Nikolay Egorov, judge of the Novocherkassk City Court of the Rostov Region, sentenced three Jehovah’s Witnesses (two men; one woman) to prison for up to 6.5 years.

    Judge Egorov ignored evidence that included a statement by Russia’s own Foreign Ministry:

    “Members of a liquidated organization may worship independently, including as part of religious groups that do not require registration.” The two men already spent more than 22 months in pretrial detention, while the woman over 16 months.

    • Garegin Khachaturyan: 6.5 years
    • Gevorg Yeritsyan: 6 years and 2 months
    • Lyubov Galitsyna: 2 years and 3 months

    “Although the Supreme Court liquidated the legal entities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in April 2017, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has clearly stated that Jehovah’s Witnesses are free to continue to worship individually or with others”, said Jarrod Lopes, a spokesperson for world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

    “The 2017 decision is being shamelessly abused by local authorities to strip Jehovah’s Witnesses of their constitutional right to peacefully worship. This court-sanctioned religious discrimination is a cold heartless attack on Witness families, where spouses are separated for years and innocent children, like those of Garegin and Gevorg, have their fathers taken from them at a very critical time when they need their father’s love, guidance, and support more than ever. 

    We hope soon the authorities will likewise see the value of devout Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russian society, release those in prison, and allow them to freely worship with their families as well as to return to promoting the morals and neighborly love that will further unite and beautify their communities.”

    Case History

    • August 11, 2022. At 6 a.m., armed security forces raided 10 homes of Witnesses in Novocherkassk (Rostov region), including the village of Hrushevskaya. Officers confiscated Bibles, electronic devices, money, and bank cards. All were taken for interrogation. Garegin Khachaturyan and Gevorg Yeritsyan were court-ordered to pretrial detention
    • August 16. Returning from vacation, Lyubov Galitsyna discovered she had been summoned for interrogation and immediately reported. Anticipating a possible arrest, she took essentials and medicines with her
    • August 17. Novocherkassk City Court ordered Galitsyna to pretrial detention. Some 30 fellow believers risked their freedom to come to the court to support her
    • January 18, 2023. She appealed for release from pretrial detention. She reminded the court that she never had any intention to hide or flee, citing that she quickly reported when called for interrogation. She also explained that her diabetes and hypertension have worsened while in detention. The court denied her appeal
    • August 2, 2023. Her leg grew numb. She requested exam and seeked release from detention
    • September 20, 2023. Criminal trial began
    • December 25, 2023. She was released and placed under house arrest. While in pretrial detention, she received over 4,000 letters of support from friends
    • February 19, 2024. Surveillance video of meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses was examined. Experts testified that they heard nothing that could be construed as extremist
    • March 22, 2024. Sergey Astapov, Doctor of Philosophy, Head of the Department of Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies of the Institute of Philosophy and Socio-Political Sciences (Southern Federal University), testified the Witnesses are law-abiding citizens and asserted that there can be no extremist calls from Jehovah’s Witnesses simply for devoutly following Biblical doctrines. (link to Astapov’s academic bio)
    • May 14, 2024. The defense asked the court to consider the statement by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted above (link to more information), as well as the European Court of Human Rights decision (LRO Taganrog and others v. the Russian Federation) that declared the 2017 ban unjustified and unlawful (link to summary of decision)
    • June 26, 2024. All three were convicted and sentenced. The men returned to their respective detention centers. Lyubov Galitsyna’s sentence was considered satisfied due to her time in pretrial detention and under house arrest

    Biographies of the convicts

    • Garegin Khachaturyan: 56 years old
      • Born in Azerbaijan
      • 1994, became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
      • 1995, moved to Russia
      • 2008, married Ksenia. They have a son named Timothy
    • Gevorg Yeritsyan: 37 years old
      • 2010, married Melina
      • 2013, became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have two minor children
    • Lyubov Galitsyna: 68 years old
      • 1997, became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
      • Has grandchildren from her two adult children
      • Widowed in 2015

    Persecution in numbers | Russia and Crimea

    • 2,102 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses raided since 2017 ban
    • 811 men and women criminally charged for their belief in God
    • 134 men and women in prison as of today; a total of 427 have spent some time behind bars since 2017
    • 506 men and women have been added to Russia’s federal list of extremists/terrorists

    See 128 documented cases in HRWF Database of FORB Prisoners