A Russian preacher who helps the homeless could face years in prison and has been fined by authorities in his home country for opposing the invasion of Ukraine.
Eduard Aleksandrovich Charov, 53, who identifies as Christian of no official church, serves the homeless with his wife Inna Charova at their house in the village of Savinovo in Russia’s Sverdlovsk Region, in the Urals mountains, reported independent Russian news site Takiye Dela.
The couple liquidated their non-profit organization in 2021, formerly a state-registered homeless shelter known as For the Sake of Christ. “You have to pay too much to the state for the right to help your neighbor,” Charov reportedly explained.
His opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in the loss of volunteers who were helping at the shelter, he told Novaya Gazeta Kazakhstan news site. The couple decided to accept the homeless as private guests.
Russian authorities, however, cracked down on Charov, a “sympathetic and caring person,” according to the Rev. Igor Savvateyev, a Savinovo parish priest.
The timeline is unclear, but rights group Forum 18 said Charov first accused Russian Armed Forces of war crimes and “purposefully hostile, violent, discriminatory actions against civilians” in posts on his VKontakte social media page from May 2022 onwards.
“You churchmen/church people! Come to your senses! Understand! Think about it, would Jesus Christ have gone to kill in Ukraine????!” Charov reportedly wrote.
Mediazona, an independent Russian media outlet, reported that Charov compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Antichrist in a subsequently deleted post. He also offered sanctuary to reservists escaping call-up to the Russian troops killing Ukrainians.
Krasnoufimsk District Court convicted him of “discreditation” and “incitement of hatred or enmity” under the Russian Administrative Code on April 18, 2023. Sverdlovsk Regional Court upheld fines worth 45,000 rubles ($518 USD) on May 24 and June 8, 2023.
Charov told Takiye Dela that the fines, equivalent to five months’ pension, were “a huge amount” but strangers helped to pay. He struggled with hepatitis, blood poisoning, and suffered temporary paralysis in 2000 so had a disability pension for 20 years.
Forum 18 said Charov also reposted an image on social media network VKontakte from another user, which led to his criminal prosecution by Russian authorities on Sept. 3, 2023. The image had been circulating on various Russian language sites since April 2017.
The image had white text on a black background, with the message: “A patriot is someone who wants to make their country better, the people richer, and the government more honest and fair. Not someone who justifies total destitution and corruption with imaginary greatness and spiritual bonds.”
Charov has been charged with breaking various criminal codes under Russian law by the Investigative Committee in Krasnoufimsk (Sverdlovsk Region) for his actions. He could face prison terms of five to seven years or a fine of 300,000 to 1 million rubles ($3,456 USD to $11,520 USD).
A letter by the Investigative Committee, posted on Charov’s VKontakte page, accused him of making a social post judged by so-called experts to harbor “linguistic and psychological signs of persuading [readers] of the negative nature of the goals of Russian state bodies’ use of their powers, that is, their discreditation.”
Pressure from authorities includes Charov being warned by the land use inspectorate and local fire service. Bailiffs also summoned him on suspicion of “providing social services and not paying taxes on this activity,” Forum 18 reported from another source.
Forum 18 questioned the legal process endured by Charov, with several Russian authorities, including the Krasnoufimsk Inter-District Prosecutor’s Office, Sverdlovsk Region Investigative Committee and the press service of the Federal Investigative Committee in Moscow. The rights group did not receive coherent responses.
Charov was charged with terrorism offenses in February for allegedly making satirical comments in August 2023 about an arson incident at a military office in the town of Polevskoy, according to Forum 18. A man threw a Molotov cocktail bomb at the building door, but no one was hurt.
“Award the Order of Courage posthumously with confiscation of property,” Charov wrote on Vkontakte, according to Forum 18.
Russian investigators took Charov to a psychiatric assessment in Yekaterinburg, which found no issues, according to his wife. But his health worsened from stress, and he endured hospitalization for a time.
“After stress, his hands go numb and his legs become worse,” Charova reportedly explained.
The Investigative Committee suspended the investigation until Charov’s medical discharge, but his name on May 13 was added to a list of terrorists and extremists with the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring), which freezes named individuals’ larger financial assets.
Charov expects to face combined charges against him in Krasnoufimsk District Court this month. His wife managed his VKontakte page since February after investigators enforced restrictions banning him from using a phone or internet or leaving his home district without permission.
“I don’t understand politics, but I see what’s going on in the country,” his wife Charova told Takiye Dela on April 3. “Murderers and rapists are pardoned, and honest people are simply jailed for their words. You can sit it out, keep quiet, without attracting the attention of the authorities, but then you will still answer to God. You should not fear the judgment of people, but of God.”
Charov and his wife were preparing for his imprisonment. On July 3, Charova asked supporters on VKontakte to “help get my husband ready for the colony” and give donations of clothes, toiletries, and tea.
“Most likely, it will all end with a prison term for me,” Charov told Takiye Dela on April 3. “I already have a suitcase packed at home...My wife will look after the shelter in the meantime. And I will continue to help people in prison. There are people in need everywhere.”
