Dmytro Bodyu, a U.S. citizen and the pastor of the "Phrase of Life" Pentecostal Church in Russian-occupied Melitopol, was detained by Russians in March 2022. Throughout his detention, he was accused of working for the CIA and obtained dying threats from the Russian army.
Solely an intervention by the U.S. State Division saved him.
"On the morning of March 19, a number of army automobiles and a few civilian automobiles stopped outdoors our house. Round 15 Russian troopers have been in full gear, sporting balaclavas and carrying shields… They handled me like a Mexican drug lord. They jumped over the fence, went by means of neighboring yards, and entered from all sides directly," Bodyu recollects in an in-depth interview for the Kyiv Impartial's new investigative documentary "No God However Theirs."
The pastor and his household have been warned by the U.S. Embassy and given recommendation to go away Melitopol one month earlier than the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. However Bodyu determined he couldn’t abandon his Church.
Throughout his detention, Russian particular companies repeatedly accused him of working for the CIA and demanded that he disclose his name signal and his "handler from Langley," he says.
"It felt like being in a psychiatric ward — you're a completely regular, wholesome individual, however they attempt to persuade you that you simply're a schizophrenic, you simply don't realize it, and that quickly you'll notice you're precisely the place you need to be," Bodyu recollects.
In the meantime, Russian troopers threatened to kill him.
They took no matter they needed. There are not any legal guidelines; nothing features within the occupied territories.
"The troopers mentioned: 'We now have orders to shoot you. Now, we’ll query you. We all know who you might be, what you might be. You're a CIA worker, a spy. You gave away our positions, our individuals died due to you. You led protests within the metropolis, you're giving cash to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, you lead the partisans right here' — issues like that," the pastor says.
After eight days, his time in detention was reduce quick.
The Kyiv IndependentDanylo Mokryk
"We had an interrogation (with an FSB operative) throughout the day, and within the night, he is available in and says, 'Effectively, that's it, you're going house.' And I'm like, 'What do you imply? That's surprising.' He says, 'It was surprising for us too, imagine me.' I ask, 'So who determined I ought to go house?' He says, 'They determined up prime.' I say, 'What do you imply? God determined?' He says, 'No, Moscow determined to launch you.'"
After his launch, Bodyu and his household left Melitopol.
They’re now dwelling close to Kyiv. In Melitopol, his Pentecostal Church "Phrase of Life" was formally banned by the Russian occupation authorities a day after Christmas — on Dec. 26, 2022. The Church's constructing is now occupied by a division of the Russian Ministry of Inner Affairs. Russian authorities additionally confiscated all of Bodyu's companies (he owned seven cafes and eating places in Melitopol).
"I name them pirates. That's what they’re — pirates. They took no matter they needed. There are not any legal guidelines; nothing features within the occupied territories." Bodyu says.
Within the investigative documentary "No God However Theirs," the Kyiv Impartial's journalists additionally recognized a number of officers implicated within the persecution of Ukrainian Christians in Melitopol.
Apart from Dmytro Bodyu's Church, the Russian-occupation authorities additionally banned a number of different Church buildings — Melitopol's largest Protestant Church "New Era," the Baptist Church "Grace" and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church subordinated to the Vatican.
They have been stripped of all property, and their buildings now housed totally different Russian establishments.