Israeli authorities are ready to extradite Grozovsky – source

Moscow, October 22, Interfax – The materials of the criminal case against Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky, who is charged with child molestation, have been sent to Israel at the request of the Israeli law enforcement agencies, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax on Wednesday.

“The Israeli authorities have sent a request to the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office as part of the launched extradition procedures, on the basis of which materials related to the Grozovsky case were sent to Israel,” the source said.

The source said the relevant authorities in Israel, where Grozovsky was taken into custody, have already received and studied the case materials. “Having studied the case thoroughly, our Israeli colleagues confirmed their readiness to extradite Grozovsky to Russia via unofficial channels,” the source said.

Grozovsky, who left for Israel after the investigation began, filed an application for an Israeli passport and said he wanted to stay in Israel permanently. However, the relevant Israeli authorities rejected his request,” the source said.

Grozovsky, who has been suspended from service, filed a similar application in spring 2014, but it was rejected because he was under investigation. Grozovsky said he wanted to stay in Israel because he had Jewish blood and was being persecuted for political motives.

“It was after his request was denied again that the Israeli authorities decided to detain him and to begin the extradition procedure,” the source said.

It was reported on September 22 that Gleb Grozovsky, whose extradition is being sought by Russia, had been detained in Israel. The relevant Israeli agencies notified the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office about Grozovsky’s detention based on the extradition request sent to Israel on April 7.

Investigators believe that Grozovsky molested several children under the age of 14 on the territory of an Orthodox children’s camp on the island of Konevets, in the Priozersky District of the Leningrad Region, in summer 2011 when he was a clergyman at the Assumption (Sophia) Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo.

According to information possessed by the investigators, Grozovsky committed similar actions on the territory of the Orthodox children’s Philadelphia camp in Greece in June 2013.

Because Grozovsky had fled prosecution, he was placed under arrest in absentia in October 2013 and was put on the international wanted persons list. Grozovsky was on a business trip at a center helping drug addicts in Israel and remains in the country. In November 2013, the Gatchina diocese reported that Grozovsky’s business trip had been cancelled. Grozovsky has been suspended from ministry for the period of the investigation.