Russian Monk Who Called Covid A ‘Fake Pandemic’ Sent To Jail For 3.5 Years

<p><strong>New Delhi: </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Russian court has sent to prison a monk who denied that Covid-19 existed. The rebel monk, Father Sergiy, was arrested in December 2020 on charges of encouraging suicides through his sermons.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Moscow&rsquo;s Ismailovo District Court convicted him on Tuesday and handed out a prison sentence of three and a half years, Associated Press reported.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In his reaction to the ruling, according to the report, Father Sergiy said, &ldquo;Do not judge and you will not be judged&rdquo; &mdash; a quote from the Bible.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to a December 2020 report in Russian news agency TASS, the 66-year-old monk was detained after he posted a video on YouTube encouraging his followers "to die for Russia", after the coronavirus pandemic struck.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Father Sergiy was reportedly fined a couple of times for inciting hatred and hostility, and also for spreading fake information through his sermons.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He had described the Covid situation as a "fake pandemic" and exhorted people to defy the lockdown to go to church.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In late May 2020, the Russian Orthodox Church stripped him of his abbot&rsquo;s rank, and later excommunicated him, for breaking monastic rules.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The monk had castigated the Kremlin over the Covid restrictions, calling the Vladimir Putin administration's efforts &ldquo;Satan&rsquo;s electronic camp&rdquo;, AP reported. He also described the Covid-19 vaccines being developed across the world as part of a global plot to &ldquo;control the masses via microchips&rdquo;, the report said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Born as Nikolai Romanov, Father Sergiy was a police officer during Soviet times. According to reports, he was sentenced to 13 years in jail in 1986 for burglary and murder. He joined a church school after walking free and later became a monk.</span></p>