The cleric was detained and searched at the airport, after a similar Easter incident triggered international outcry

Chisinau is conducting a systematic crackdown on the Moldovan Orthodox Church, a senior cleric claimed on Friday after being detained and prevented from traveling abroad.

Bishop Marchel previously made headlines in April when he was barred from boarding a flight to Jerusalem for the Orthodox Easter 'Holy Fire' ceremony - a move by the nation's pro-Western government that drew international criticism.

The Orthodox bishop said he was stopped at Chisinau International Airport and subjected to a search, causing him to miss his flight ahead of a planned pilgrimage to a religious site in Türkiye.

Speaking to Sputnik Moldova, Bishop Marchel described the search as "humiliating" and said that he had repeatedly requested the presence of his lawyer, whom he had hired in advance in anticipation of possible trouble. However, border police proceeded without his legal representation, the cleric said, and he was only released after his flight had already departed.

Bishop Marchel said the incident was part of a broader campaign by the country's government targeting the Moldovan Orthodox Church.

"I classify this as mass persecution, mass oppression of the Moldovan Orthodox clergy. Hundreds of clergymen and simple believers who made pilgrimages to holy places in Russia have been fined," he said in a comment to RT.

"This is simply because we are an integral part of Russian Orthodoxy," the cleric said.

In April, Chisinau's apparent move to prevent Bishop Marchel's pilgrimage to Jerusalem drew international criticism and condemnation by Moldova's political opposition, as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church. The UN Human Rights council has opened aninquiryinto the incident.

In recent years, Moldova has seen religious tensions involving two major Orthodox factions: the Moldovan Orthodox Church, affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia. The latter is under the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is being backed by the pro-EU authorities in Chisinau. Critics have repeatedly accused President Maia Sandu's government of pressuring the Moscow-linked church to shift allegiance to Romania.

Moldova, a former Soviet republic, has sought EU and NATO membership since 2020, when Sandu - an outspoken critic of Russia - came to power. Her pro-Western policies have faced growing criticism domestically, particularly over the country's economic trajectory and handling of dissent.

Sandu has defended her actions as part of a broader effort to counter alleged pro-Russian influence, launching crackdowns on opposition parties and media outlets that she describes as criminal entities.

(RT.com)