The Czech police have detained Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Karlovy Vary. Law enforcement searched his car and found drugs.
According to the lawyers, on May 24, the priest and his cameraman left the Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. On the highway, “two police cars were waiting” for his vehicle. The officers stopped the vehicle and asked for the documents.
The defense asserts that the priest was taken to a shop near a gas station, so he could not observe the search of the car. According to his representatives, the cleric’s personal belongings and bags were searched, then the police checked the trunk, where they found containers holding a white substance.
The Metropolitan was placed under preventive arrest, and all his personal belongings were confiscated.
From 2009 to 2022, Metropolitan Ilarion held the position of head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, according to Mediafax. One of his most significant achievements is considered to be the preparation of the meeting between Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Pope Francis, in 2016.
Following his resignation, Ilarion was appointed Administrator of the Budapest-Hungary Diocese. In 2024, he retired to serve at Karlovy Vary, following a scandal involving his former cell caretaker, Georgy Suzuki. The latter reported to the press about the sexual abuses committed by the priest and provided evidence.