The head of Russia's Catholic church has appealed for a “merciful approach” to the jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, amid nationwide protests over his mistreatment and the planned closure of his movement's offices.
“We ask that justice be rendered to the innocent and mercy to the guilty – for intelligence, courage and wisdom for those tasked with issuing judgments, and above all humanity for those who must enforce them”, the Italian-born Archbishop Paolo Pezzi told the Rome-based Servizio Informazione Religiosa. “The task of churches is to ask the Lord's grace that the hearts of those called to exercise power can be open to the real good of their people and society's better functioning”.
In a rare interview, the archbishop said treatment of Navalny was “above all a political question”, but added that he agreed with Russians who had called for him to be shown humanity, and his current detention not to be “turned into torture or mockery”.
“This seems a reasonable, humane and Christian way of dealing with a situation which is not pleasant for anyone”, said Archbishop Pezzi, who heads Russia's Moscow-based Mother of God Catholic archdiocese. “The task of the Churches is also to recall precisely, through words, the humanity of political action. Russian society, and not only Russian society, needs to take these words seriously – not to dismiss them as religious, and thus relegate them to an area separated from political and social action”.
The 44-year-old Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner, was evacuated to Berlin for medical treatment last August after being poisoned with Novichuk nerve agent by Russian operatives, and jailed for three and a half years after returning to Moscow in January for violating his parole terms.
At least 11,000 people have since been arrested for protesting mistreatment of the dissident, who survived a hunger-strike in April, while Russian prosecutors announced plans last week to ban his Anti-Corruption Foundation as an “extremist organisation”, prompting supporters to begin disbanding its regional offices.
On Monday, the Brussels-based European Commission summoned Russia’s ambassador after Moscow blacklisted eight top EU top in retaliation for March EU sanctions against those involved in Navalny's imprisonment.
In his SIR interview, Archbishop Pezzi said he was concerned about deteriorating Russian-EU ties, but added that churches everywhere should be reminding those in power “to act for the common good and the good of the person, showing respect for human dignity from conception to the last breath of life”.
“Living by these principles takes nothing away from economic and political priorities – instead, it offers something more for society,” said the Archbishop. “By looking up, we can discover that those around us, even if unknown, with different languages, ethnicities and religions, have something deeper that makes us brothers.”
Leaders of Russia’s Catholic church, whose four dioceses represent just half a percent of Russia's 146 million inhabitants, according to Vatican data, have become more outspoken in response to recent repression by the government of President Vladimir Putin, which enjoys strong support from Russia's predominant Orthodox church.
In an earlier February interview with SIR, Archbishop Pezzi said he believed the “Robin Hood role” assigned to Navalny by the West was “somewhat exaggerated”, but added that the Russian state should take public discontent seriously and provide “more convincing, concrete answers” to current protests.
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