Click to expand Image Yakov Vorontsov. © Petr Trotsenko (RFE/RL) (Berlin, May 28, 2026) – Kazakhstan authorities on May 25, 2026, forcibly transferred a defrocked Russian Orthodox priest, Yakov Vorontsov, to a psychiatric facility outside Almaty, Human Rights Watch said today. A Kazakhstan court on May 18 had ordered his transfer there from pretrial detention, where he had been held since February on dubious drug-related criminal charges. “Kazakhstan’s record of politically motivated prosecution of critics, activists, and others engaged in peaceful expression of critical views is well-documented,” said Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia advisor at Human Rights Watch. “But Kazakhstan also has a growing and troubling record of using psychiatric detention as another abusive repression tactic.”Vorontsov’s arrest and detention follow years of pressure linked to his opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine and independent religious activities. He has no documented history of either substance use disorder or psychosocial disability.Vladimir (Yakov) Vorontsov, 40, a Kazakhstan national, was banned from the priesthood of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in June 2023, apparently in retaliation for independent religious activity and public criticism of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and was later defrocked.Almaty police arrested him on February 13 on drug-related charges, days after he sued the Justice Ministry for refusing to register an independent community of Orthodox Christians that he and others had founded in late 2025.Since his arrest, Vorontsov has alleged multiple procedural violations and mistreatment in detention, including denial of access to family visits, access to religious materials and documents relevant to his own legal case.On May 18, an Almaty court granted the investigator’s request to replace Vorontsov’s pretrial detention with detention in a specialized psychiatric medical institution as a “security measure” during the investigation. Neither Vorontsov nor his lawyer were present at the hearing. Although Vorontsov appealed the decision, the authorities transferred him to a psychiatric institution on May 25, before his appeal could be considered.Kazakh authorities should never use psychiatry as a form of coercion against people and should immediately withdraw the grounds used to justify Vorontsov’s forced psychiatric detention and mental health examination and release him, Human Rights Watch said.Vorontsov alleged in a letter written in detention dated February 15 that his prosecution was politically motivated and that he had long faced “threats and risks” related to his anti-war position and efforts to establish an independent Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan.In February 2022, Vorontsov had joined an open letter signed by about 300 Christian Orthodox clergy worldwide calling for peace in the war in Ukraine. He also publicly urged Kazakhstan to withdraw from Russia-led regional organizations, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).In March 2022, the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan suspended Vorontsov from conducting religious services, claiming his public calls for Kazakhstan to withdraw from the CSTO and EEU were the equivalent to making “political demands,” thus violating Kazakhstan’s law on religious organizations and his oath of priesthood.In December 2023, the authorities opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Vorontsov had “incited religious discord” through his social media posts criticizing the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. In May 2025, authorities closed the investigation for lack of evidence.On February 13, 2026, Almaty riot police and investigators with narcotics detection dogs searched Vorontsov’s home, where they claimed they found a “powdered substance.” Police detained Vorontsov and subjected him to a forced medical examination that police said confirmed drug use. Later that day, an Almaty administrative court sentenced him to 10 days of detention for alleged nonmedical drug use.On February 23, after he completed his detention, police interrogated him on criminal charges of drug possession and maintaining premises for drug use. On February 25, an Almaty court authorized Vorontsov’s pretrial detention.Vorontsov’s lawyer, Galym Nurpiesov, told Human Rights Watch that his client denies the allegations, saying that the case is fabricated and that drugs were planted in his home. The authorities have not given the defense full access to the case materials, Nurpiesov said.Nurpeisov said that following Vorontsov’s arrest in February, the authorities initially denied him family visits, forcibly shaved his head and beard despite their religious significance in Orthodox monastic tradition and confiscated his Bible and prayer book, in violation of his right to freedom of religion. Following a complaint, the authorities allowed family visits and returned his religious materials.In a communication dated March 31, three UN experts raised concerns and questions related to the case with the Kazakhstan government.Kazakhstan’s authorities should immediately ensure Vorontsov’s right to a fair trial and due process, including by granting his defense full access to all relevant case materials. If the authorities cannot present credible evidence supporting the charges against Vorontsov, they should end the prosecution and release him, Human Rights Watch said.Kazakhstan’s international partners, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe participating states, and United Nations human rights mechanisms, should closely monitor the case and publicly call on Kazakhstan to uphold its international human rights obligations.“Forced psychiatric detention is an abusive, harmful, rights-violating practice that Kazakhstan should not be using to silence critics,” Rittmann said. “Kazakh authorities should release Vorontsov from forced psychiatric detention and take urgent steps to end the misuse of the criminal justice system and coercive psychiatric intervention.”