Investigators intend to question Grozovsky lawyer as witness

St. Petersburg, December 13, Interfax – An investigator from the St. Petersburg Investigations Committee has summoned lawyer Artyom Bakonin to be questioned as a witness in the case of Gleb Grozovsky, who is accused of child molestation.

“The Investigations Committee represented by the investigator has invited me to come to be questioned as a witness on December 16. I can’ be a witness, I have an agreement with my client, and I would breach this agreement if I testify,” Bakonin told Interfax.

The lawyer said he will decide on whether he can take part in the questioning with his lawyer.

“I now need time to discuss my possible participation in this questioning with my lawyer. We will decide if I should go,” he said.

Investigators claim that the 34-year-old priest sexually abused girls aged nine and 12 at a hotel on the premises of an Orthodox children’s camp on the Kos island in Greece in June this year. Grozovsky, who was afterward temporarily posted at a drug abuse help center in Israel, had an arrest warrant issued for him and put on an international wanted list.

In November, the diocese of Gatchina, near St. Petersburg, announced that Grozovsky’s posting in Israel had been terminated and urged him to return to Russia. Grozovsky was suspended as a priest for the period the alleged crimes are being investigated. The priest denies his guilt.