Dmitry (John) Kurmoyarov

A priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Previously served in Vinnitsa in a Moscow Patriarchate church and criticised the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. An administrative case was brought against Kurmoyarov, accused of pro-Russian propaganda, and then excluded from the list of priests of the Tulchyn diocese. He moved to Russia and taught theology at the Novosibirsk Theological Seminary. He criticised the Patriarch and spoke out strongly against the Temple of the Armed Forces in Kubinka near Moscow. Then moved to St Petersburg, and transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Composes electronic music. On 7 June 2022, detained after a search, the next day he was taken into custody in the case of spreading deliberately false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. On 10 August, it became known that the lawyer Leonid Krikun, representing the interests of Kurmoyarov, signed a non-disclosure agreement.

At one of the sessions Kurmoyarov said that the staff of the medical unit of pre-trial detention centre-1 "Kresty-2" ignored twenty-five of his requests for medical assistance, his complaints were refused to be registered, and the button to call the staff does not work, which, with the hypertension he suffers from, could lead to death in the event of a heart attack or stroke. In addition, according to him, for more than two weeks he has not been allowed to take a shower, due to the alleged lack of hot water, and a full search is carried out not behind a screen, but in front of the other detainees in the cell. In the pre-trial detention centre, the priest was registered as prone to extremism and terrorism. They cannot provide him with the necessary medical care (John had a severe flu, after which he began to have problems with hearing and vision, he also has chronic diseases).

On 31 August 2023, Kurmoyarov was sentenced to three years in a general regime penal colony. On 1 August 2024, he was released.