Israeli Supreme Court adjourns hearing of Grozovsky extradition case due to lack of incriminating evidence – defense

St. Petersburg/Jerusalem, September 8, Interfax – Israeli prosecutors failed to submit evidence against priest Gleb Grozovsky charged with pedophilia; the hearing of this extradition case has been adjourned, public defender Andrey Murashko told Interfax.

“At the Monday hearing of the appeal against a ruling by a Jerusalem district court, Israeli prosecutors failed to present a number of documents which could have provided ground for Grozovsky’s extradition. There was no evidence to prove his guilt. The court hearing has been adjourned closer to the winter,” Murashko said.

He also said that if the appeal is rejected the defense will take the case to a higher court.

It was reported that on January 19 a district court in Jerusalem ruled in favor of Grozovsky’s extradition to Russia where he faces pedophilia charges. The ruling was appealed.

According to the inquiry, in the summer of 2011 Grozovsky, who was a cleric at the Ascension Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo, sexually assaulted several children aged under 14 at an Orthodox children’s camp on the Konevets Island in the Leningrad Region.

Investigators also said that the priest engaged in similar activities in June 2013 at a Greek camp of the Orthodox Philadelphia Club for children and adolescents, where he was the head of the Church of Holy Martyr John The Warrior.

Since Grozovsky had absconded in October 2013 the authorities issued an absentia arrest and put him on the international wanted list. The priest himself claims he was on a business trip in Israel at the time. In November 2013 the Gatchina Diocese said Grozovsky’s trip was terminated. While investigation is held, the priest has been suspended from serving.