Czech Police Detain Bishop Hilarion After Finding 4 Containers of White Substance
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · May 25
Czech Police Detain Bishop Hilarion After Finding 4 Containers of White Substance
10 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · May 25
Bishop Hilarion, 60, was detained Sunday on a highway between Karlovy Vary and Prague after police found four containers of a suspicious white substance in his car.
Czech drug investigators said the stop followed an anonymous tip alleging transport of narcotic and psychotropic substances; police said interrogations were under way and no charges had been filed.
Hilarion denied any link to drugs, while his lawyer said he was barred from observing the search and is seeking independent forensic, fingerprint and DNA tests on the substance.
Maria Zakharova called the detention an orchestrated provocation, demanded Hilarion's release and said Moscow would summon the Czech diplomatic mission to lodge a protest.
The case lands in already tense Czech-Russian relations: Hilarion was posted abroad in 2022 after falling from favor in Moscow, and Prague's current government has recently hardened policy toward Ukrainian refugees.
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