Pro-Pussy Riot Priest Murdered in Russia

AFP
August 6, 2013

priot

A man stabbed to death a Russian priest who was deeply critical of Orthodox Church leadership and had supported the activist punk rock group Pussy Riot, police said on Tuesday.

Pavel Adelgeim, 75, was found dead late Monday in the northwestern Pskov region with multiple stab wounds, regional police told AFP.

A man, born in 1986, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the priest but inflicted stab wounds upon himself when he was detained. He has now been hospitalised and investigators are waiting to interrogate him.

According to initial information, the young man was acquainted with the priest and may have even been staying with him as a guest at the time of the murder. The motive is unclear.

Adelgeim, a former religious dissident who had been imprisoned under Soviet rule, had in recent years in blogs and newspaper articles been hugely critical of the powerful leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.

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