One of two disappeared Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests seized from their church in Berdiansk in November of 2022 appears to have been illegally transferred to Russia, according to a human rights activist.
Redemptorist Father Ivan Levitsky is likely being held in an investigation prison in Russia’s Rostov region, according to Yevhen Zakharov of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Zakharov recently shared the update with Felix Corley of Forum 18, a news service that partners with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in defending freedom of religion, thought and conscience.
Father Levitsky’s fellow Redemptorist Father Bohdan Geleta, who served with him at the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Berdiansk, is reported to be held in a separate investigation prison in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Felix Corley told OSV News that “it does seem they (the priests) are alive,” but that he and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church do not have full confirmation of their location. “Russian occupation authorities are consolidating their control over religious communities, and they are basically being treated as they would be in Russia itself,” said Corley, adding that means “tight restrictions … control … oversight … surveillance and intrusive monitoring of everything a religious community does.”
Picture: Father Bohdan Geleta, left, and Father Ivan Levitsky are seen in this undated screen grab. (OSV News screen grab/courtesy of Ukrainian Catholic Church)