Israel to extradite Russian priest accused of child abuse

After exhausting all his legal options in Israel, Gleb Grozovsky will face justice in his country and answer to charges of child abuse.  

Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky, who is suspected of child abuse in his home country and in Greece, will be extradited to Russia after Israel’s Supreme Court of Justice rejected his appeal against the order to extradite him.

Grozovsky’s attorney in Israel, Haim Azencott, said that the failed appeal was the final legal procedure left before his client’s deportation, Russia’s Sputnik News reported on Tuesday.

Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked signed an order in April to extradite Grozovsky, who is wanted in Russia on charges of sexual abuse against children.

The extradition was postponed after Grozovsky’s defense appealed against the decision, citing security concerns when he returns home.

“We received a refusal of the Supreme Court. It was our last resort, but it seems that the Supreme Court trusts a lot the Russian legal procedures,” Azencott told RIA Novosti.

Russian authorities charge that Grozovsky abused several minors in 2011 and 2013 in children’s camps in Russia’s Leningrad region and in Greece.

The cleric was put on the international wanted list in April 2014, while on a working trip to Israel.

Grozovsky was arrested by the Israeli police in September 2014. In January 2015, the Jerusalem District Court authorized his extradition to Russia on the basis of the European Convention on Extradition.

The priest maintains he is not guilty.

By: World Israel News Staff