Primate of UOC MP diocese sentenced to 5 years in prison
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) materials, the metropolitan of one of the Vinnytsia dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) who justified the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation was sentenced to five years in prison.
This follows from a statement by the SSU press center, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
The leader of the Tulchyn diocese in the Vinnytsia Region publicly justified Russian armed aggression against Ukraine.
The court confirmed the evidence base collected by the special service and sentenced the cleric to five years of imprisonment.
In particular, he was convicted of crimes stipulated by the Penal Code of Ukraine:
- Section 2 of Article 109 (actions aimed at violent change or overthrow of constitutional order or at seizure of state power);
- Section 1 of Article 110 (encroachment on territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine);
- Section 2 of Article 161 (violation of equality of citizens depending on their racial, national, regional belonging, religious beliefs, disability and on other grounds);
- Section 3 of Article 436-2 (justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of armed aggression of Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).
According to the materials of the investigation, the person involved distributed propaganda leaflets among the faithful, where he called for the seizure of power and the change of the borders of the state border of Ukraine.
And on one of the websites of the Russian Orthodox Church posted publications in support of the Russian occupiers and their war crimes.
The SSU-initiated examination of the materials seized during the searches (pro-Kremlin propaganda and literature) confirmed the facts of the metropolitan's illegal activities.
The SSU handed over the indictment to the court against the head of the Tulchyn diocese of the UOC (MP) in January.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the SSU opened a case against a priest of the UOC (MP) who gave the occupiers the basement of the church for the torture chamber of the residents of Kyiv Region.