Belarus court sentences Russian pimp-priest to 5 years in prison

On 14 November, a district court in Viciebsk, north-eastern Belarus, sentenced Nikolay Kireyev, a 39-year-old priest from Russia's Leningrad region to 5 1/2 years in a high-security prison and confiscation of his property on charges of attempting to recruit local women to work as prostitutes in a foreign country, reports the press office of Viciebsk Regional Court. 

The priest pleaded not guilty. Kireyev told reporters miniutes before the sentence was pronounced he was not involved in human trafficking. The clergyman is set to appeal the ruling.

The hearings presided by Judge Dzianis Alyakseyenka lasted for three weeks behind closed doors. 

Nikolay Kireyev was detained on 3 August. Initial media reports suggested he was detained in a police raid on a local brothel. However, later the Investigations Committee said the Russian priest was detained at a Viciebsk bus station when he tried to board a Russia-bound coach along with two women, 20 and 30-year-old.

According to Belarusian investigators, from April through August 2017 the man was in correspondence with the women, trying to convince them to work as prostitutes in St Petersburg. On 3 August, he arrived in Viciebsk in order to arrange for the women to travel to Russia.

Investigators also claim that Kiteyev colluded with a 19-year-old Tadjikistan woman and other persons in January-February 2017, trying to recruit other Belarusians via correspondence. a 25-year-old and a 29-year-old women from Belarus was agreed in correspondence with the Tadjikistani woman to work as prostitutes in St Petersburg.

In February, the Tadjikistan national arrived in the Belarusian city of Homiel and agreed with the women to take them to St Petersburg as sex workers. Local agents detained them when they boarded a Russia-bound train at the railway station in Homiel.

A district court in Homiel sentenced the Tadjikistani recruiter to 5 years in prison and confiscation of property.