Additional Name(s): Богдана Гелети

Gender: Male

Perpetrator: Russia

Religion or Belief: Christian – Catholic

Health Concerns: Diabetes

Date of Detainment: November//2022

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: Yes

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment

Reason for Persecution: Religious Figure & Religious Leadership Role

Nature of Charges: Unknown

Bohdan Geleta

Extra Bio Info:

Bohdan Geleta is detained for his religious leadership role.

In November 2022, Russian forces in Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia oblast, Ukraine, reportedly abducted Geleta, a priest and employee of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, and Ivan Levitsky, a hieromonk and rector of that same church. Their abductions reportedly occurred on or around November 16, 2022, with Russian forces searching the church's premises around that same time.

On November 24, 2022, it was revealed in Russian media that Russian forces had detained the two priests and accused them of "subversive" and "partisan" activities directed against Russian forces after allegedly discovering explosives, weapons, and "prohibited literature" on church premises. According to the Ukrainian Catholic Archiepiscopal Exarchate of Donetsk, the accusations levied against the two seem to be in retaliation to Ukrainian authorities searching the Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv, which is under the authority of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In February 2024, Forum 18 reported that Geleta is being held in a prison in Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukraine.

Geleta reportedly suffers from diabetes. 

Related Cases: Ivan Levitsky

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